Running your own server or sitting on shared hosting? Then these caching plugins deserve a try. A few are friendlier than the rest, yet every one of them is well reviewed. You will find plenty of articles that pit them against each other on speed and crown a winner. That rarely holds up. How a cache plugin performs depends on your server, your setup, your resources and even where the server sits.
Speed tests are fun, but naming one plugin “the fastest” is not fair to the people who build these tools. A plugin that flies on one site can crawl on another. On top of that, each one has hundreds of options you can switch on or off. So the honest advice is this: try WordPress caching plugins on your own site.
A sensible approach is to try two or three caching plugins and keep the one that suits you. You may find one interface far nicer to work with than another. Some plugins are also simply easier to get running.
After you set up each plugin, check your pages with a speed tool like Pingdom or GTMetrix, or any other speed checker you prefer. That shows you what difference each caching plugin makes to how fast your site loads.
Important: Test more than once, so you know the page is coming from the cache. Each time the cache is cleared, WordPress has to build it again. Some plugins can “warm” (preload) the cache right after a clear.
Speed is the goal, but a cache plugin can also cause trouble now and then. One example is the message “No update required. Your WordPress database is already up-to-date!”, which a caching plugin on your site can trigger.
With that out of the way, here are the top WordPress caching plugins and what each one brings to your site.
| Product | Best for | Price | Rating | Active installs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WP Super Cache | Free, reliable page caching | Free | 4.3/5 | 1M+ |
| WP Rocket | The easiest all-in-one speed setup | Paid | ||
| Cache Enabler | Serving WebP images without JavaScript | Free | 4.3/5 | 100,000+ |
| Comet Cache | Users who want good documentation | Free + paid | 4.4/5 | 20,000+ |
| W3 Total Cache | Advanced users who want every option | Free + paid | 4.4/5 | 900,000+ |
| WP Fastest Cache | A simple checkbox setup | Free + paid | 4.9/5 | 1M+ |
| Hyper Cache | Low-resource hosting and forums | Free | 4.5/5 | 7,000+ |
WP Super Cache
WP Super Cache is an open-source cache plugin with millions of installs. Search for a caching plugin and it usually sits near the top, right next to W3 Total Cache. The two names are easy to mix up, so the simplest move is to install each one on its own and see which you prefer. Some people lean towards WP Super Cache because Automattic is behind it.
It costs nothing, it is open-source, and there is no upsell once it is installed. It speeds things up by building static HTML files and handing those out in place of the heavier PHP that WordPress normally runs. You also get three caching modes. Simple Mode is the safe one, and the one most site owners should pick. Expert Mode goes further and supercaches your files through changes to the .htaccess file. That suits developers who want tighter control over how caching works.
WP Super Cache plugin
Most people will stick with Simple mode, as noted above. In that mode setup is quick, and you get page compression, basic caching, cache rebuilding and CDN support. It can also spot known users and skip caching pages for them when needed. Extra checks on the homepage help keep your main page as fast as it can be.
A standout feature is garbage collection. Over time the cache folder fills up, and a bloated cache can slow your site down. WP Super Cache clears out stale files on a schedule, all on its own, so things stay quick.
Why is this one of the best WordPress caching plugins?
- With its long track record, WP Super Cache is a safe bet for reliable caching on sites big and small.
- Automattic makes it, and it is free and open-source. That means steady updates and little risk of it being abandoned.
- Most options in the settings screen come filled in for you. Even a beginner can follow it and turn it on without trouble.
- Garbage collection removes stale files from the cache, so the cache itself never ends up dragging your site down.
- Its own CDN setup is built in, which helps spread your files out more efficiently.
- Pick from three modes, from Simple up to Supercaching. Beginners do well with Simple, while experienced users can get serious speed out of Supercache mode.
- Cache Rebuilding is a handy extra. A new comment does not wipe the cache. The plugin rebuilds it in the background and keeps showing the old page to visitors meanwhile.
There is no official documentation, sadly, but you will find plenty of details on the plugin’s repository page. For a walkthrough, ShoutMeLoud explains how to configure WP Super Cache on your WordPress site.
Pros
- Free and open source, by Automattic
- Simple mode for beginners, expert mode for speed
- Automatic garbage collection of old cache files
Cons
- No browser caching
- No official documentation
WP Rocket
WP Rocket is a paid caching plugin with three plans. Strictly speaking you pay once, but updates and support continue only while you renew each year. One site costs $39, three sites cost $99, and unlimited sites cost $199. Free options exist, yet these prices are fair for one of the richest caching plugins around. You will not find a free version or trial, though there is a 14-day money back guarantee.
A big reason to like WP Rocket is how clean the interface is and how fast it is to set up. It can make a site very fast, and a beginner can still sit down and make sense of most of the options.
WP Rocket WordPress caching plugin
WP Rocket is also made to work well with online stores, which are often the sites that need speed the most. You may ask why you should pay at all when so many rivals are free. The answer is that WP Rocket packs in many more features and is simpler to use.
Take WP Super Cache: it does page caching, but not browser caching, while WP Rocket does both. Hyper Cache has no lazyload, and WP Rocket does. There are more examples, and they make $39 look like a fair price for what you get.
Why is this one of the best WordPress caching plugins?
- Developers get plenty to tweak, and beginners get a dashboard that feels approachable. Caching plugins rarely give developers much room. Many others, meanwhile, look far too technical for newcomers.
- The plugin has an extremely simple setup for all users.
- It also tidies your WordPress database, cutting down on the resources your site uses.
- Lazyload is built in for your media. Images only load once a visitor scrolls to them, so the server skips work it does not need to do.
- It works with CloudFlare, which can make your site faster still.
- Popular multilingual plugins are supported out of the box.
- Multisite compatibility is offered through the plugin.
- You can preload cache.
- You receive tools for both minification and concatenation.
- Google Fonts optimization is a rare extra that few other caching plugins offer.
- Support for object caching.
Check out the official WP Rocket documentation as you set it up and try it on your site.
Pros
- Simple setup for beginners
- Lazy loading, minification and database cleanup
- Cache preloading
Cons
- No free version
- Yearly renewal for support and updates
Cache Enabler
Cache Enabler comes from KeyCDN and is free and open-source. Its disk cache is fast and dependable, and multisite support helps anyone running a network of sites. You get a quality cache without paying for it. The feature list is shorter than WP Rocket’s, but it is a solid choice when money is tight.
Cache Enabler WordPress plugin
What it is best known for: it was the first WordPress plugin to serve WebP images without needing JavaScript. If that means little to you, the short version is that JavaScript is useful but can slow things down in some cases. Pair Cache Enabler with Optimus, ShortPixel or EWWW and you can use this newer image format. That helps almost any business site because most sites carry lots of images, blogs and online shops above all.
Finally, the settings are brief. They cover things like how long the cache lasts and how caching behaves in the background. Few people will get lost, since the Settings page explains each option and the list is short anyway.
Why is this one of the best WordPress caching plugins?
- Cache Enabler has its own way of delivering WebP images. To turn your images into WebP, try Optimus, ShortPixel, or EWWW Cloud (the cloud version is the faster option).
- The interface is plain and focused, and it is one of the simplest caching plugins to set up. Users of any skill level can handle it.
- The dashboard shows the cache size, so you know how much space it uses. It is quick and efficient, and you can clear the cache by hand or let it happen automatically.
- Minification is available for both inline JavaScript and HTML.
- Cache Enabler combines with a plugin called Autoptimize to add more, such as putting CSS into the page head. Autoptimize has many settings worth tuning for best results.
Check out the official Cache Enabler documentation as you set it up and try it on your site.
Pros
- Very few settings, easy to configure
- WebP delivery with an image optimizer
- Multisite support
Cons
- Fewer features than WP Rocket
Comet Cache
The Comet Cache plugin is a well-known, widely used option that comes in free and paid editions. Paid plans run from $39 to $139. You pay once, with an extra charge if you want longer customer support. Its features are much like those of the plugins above, but where it really shines is documentation.
Installing Comet Cache is easy, and the dashboard is simple to find your way around. Where it pulls ahead of most rivals is the documentation. Its listing in the WordPress plugin directory alone has dozens of links and FAQs that teach you about caching.
Comet Cache WordPress plugin
The Comet Cache site has a full knowledge base and a blog, plus plenty of comparisons between the free and pro editions. The main reason to go pro is automation. You set it up once and leave it, and the plugin handles most of the work. The free edition covers most of the same jobs, but some of them you must do by hand. Client-side browser caching is a nice bonus, since pages get cached twice: on your server and in the visitor’s browser.
Why is this one of the best WordPress caching plugins?
- Setup is quick, and the backend is sensible enough to get caching running in a few minutes.
- You can cache posts, pages, categories and tags.
- Paid users get smart, automatic cache clearing. Set your preferences once at install and you can stop thinking about them.
- It can cache RSS feeds, so syndicated content goes out without delay.
- The free edition includes most of the main features, so upgrading is optional.
- The premium edition is close to what WP Rocket offers, so it makes sense to try both and keep your favorite.
Check out the official Comet Cache documentation and community forum as you set it up and try it on your site.
Pros
- Extensive documentation and knowledge base
- Caches posts, pages, categories, tags and RSS feeds
Cons
- Automatic cache clearing needs Pro
W3 Total Cache
Few names in the WordPress directory are better known, so W3 Total Cache turns up in almost every caching roundup. It is a good free option, but it has flaws. The biggest is the settings area: there are a lot of options and many are hard to follow. Sensible defaults are set for you, yet beginners can still feel lost.
Still, it is free, open-source and installed on millions of sites. It connects to a CDN and handles both mobile and desktop sites well. It also claims to work nicely on sites with SSL certificates, which makes it a good speed option for online stores.
W3 Total Cache WordPress plugin
Being open-source, it costs nothing. Every feature comes with the base plugin and there are no upgrade prompts. It also helps in several ways at once, saving bandwidth through minification, HTTP compression and feed optimization.
Its settings screen is not the easiest to love, though that may come down to taste. Either way, a cache plugin like W3 Total Cache should make your site faster, and faster sites tend to convert better.
Why is this one of the best WordPress caching plugins?
- It is free from top to bottom and covers most of the caching you need for a quick, well-tuned site.
- Popular does not always mean good, but it often does. W3 Total Cache has millions of installs and thousands of strong reviews.
- It runs on many kinds of hosting, including dedicated servers, shared hosting and clusters.
- Mobile devices get cached pages too. A visitor on a phone gets the same speed boost from caching that a desktop visitor does
- SSL support helps when you want a faster online store.
- Its CDN links up with your media library, letting you check how your images are doing.
- On top of caching posts, objects on disk and the database, it also minifies and compresses files.
- Support for Object caching.
Pros
- Page, database and object caching
- CDN integration
- Minification and compression
Cons
- Many settings that are hard to understand
WP Fastest Cache
You have probably noticed how alike these cache plugin names sound. WP Fastest Cache fits that pattern, but a few features of its own make it a solid cache plugin for any site. Everyone starts with the free version, and the premium upgrade can only be bought from inside the plugin’s settings.
Premium is a one-time payment and adds a wide set of tools the free edition lacks. Even so, the free plugin is enough for most sites. It already gives you desktop caching, HTML minification and options to combine JavaScript and CSS, to name a few.
WP Fastest Cache plugin
The free edition also includes browser caching and GZIP. In general, WP Fastest Cache makes a site quicker than running no cache plugin at all. Its Settings page is basically a set of checkboxes, each with a small info box that explains it, which makes it one of the easier ones to work through. Separate tabs let you handle cache timeouts, image optimization and the CDN.
Why is this one of the best WordPress caching plugins?
- Most sites will be happy with the free edition, which holds its own on speed against many rivals.
- Settings are easy to follow: a simple checklist, with a note on what each option does.
- Upgrading to premium happens inside the WordPress dashboard. You do not need to fetch a plugin from the developer’s site.
- You can combine and minify CSS and JavaScript.
- Hooking up a CDN takes little setup.
- Image optimization lives apart from caching, so you can see how much space you save on images, one of the heaviest parts of most sites.
- You can build a separate cache for your mobile theme, and choose not to show the desktop cached version to mobile visitors.
There is no official documentation in one place, sadly, but their blog has many tutorials on how to configure WP Fastest Cache on your WordPress site.
Pros
- Settings are a list of explained checkboxes
- Minify and combine CSS and JavaScript
- Browser caching and GZIP in the free version
Cons
- Mobile cache and image optimization need Premium
Hyper Cache
Hyper Cache comes last here, but it is far from weak. It is worth a try on a powerful server or a budget hosting plan alike. It runs purely on PHP, so there is no tricky setup, and it works on any kind of WordPress site.
It knows about mobile devices, so caching still works for visitors on phones and tablets. Being open-source, it is free, with no upgrades to worry about later. If you like it, you can send the developer a donation.
Hyper Cache WordPress plugin
Key features start with a quick, simple install, ideal for beginners and anyone who would rather not wade through a long list of options. Compression caching saves bandwidth and helps pages load faster. It is also built to play nicely with bbPress, so it suits a forum well and can cache every forum page.
Where Hyper Cache stands out most is how simple it is to set up. It is close to “set it and forget it”: once installed, you can mostly leave it alone. A few options are a bit confusing or oddly named, but most come with a suggested value and a note on what they do.
Why is this one of the best WordPress caching plugins?
- There are no paid plans. It is free and open-source, and every feature is there from the first download.
- Caching works on phones and tablets too, since the plugin is mobile aware.
- CDN support lets you tap into a wider server network for extra speed.
- It can serve cached pages even to people who leave comments, which is a real help for busy blogs. If your posts tend to draw long discussions, the site still loads quickly for everyone reading them.
- It handles compression, even on pages that are not cached.
- Switch to a mobile theme and the plugin picks up on it.
- A clever touch: Hyper Cache can keep its cache folder outside your blog. That way your site backups skip the cache entirely. The result is smaller backup files that take up less storage space.
Check out the official Hyper Cache documentation and community forum as you set it up and try it on your site.
Pros
- Runs on PHP alone, no complex setup
- Mobile aware
- Keeps the cache folder out of backups
Cons
- Some settings have unclear names
Additional Caching Plugins
A few more caching plugins, each aimed at a specific need, that may be worth a look:
- Redis Object Cache: A persistent object cache backend powered by Redis.
- LiteSpeed Cache: A complete speed plugin with its own server-level cache and a set of optimization tools. You get the most from it on a LiteSpeed Web Server.
Summary
Why you should cache your site is easy to grasp. How caching works under the hood is another story for most WordPress users. So when you open a cache plugin’s settings, it can be hard to tell whether it is any good.
One last reminder: on managed WordPress hosting you usually do not need a caching plugin. The host caches on the server for you. On shared hosting, or any setup you run yourself, a caching plugin is a must.
On shared hosting or a server you manage yourself, yes. Managed WordPress hosts usually cache at server level, and there a caching plugin is often not needed.
WP Super Cache, Cache Enabler and Hyper Cache are free, and W3 Total Cache, WP Fastest Cache and Comet Cache have free versions. Test two or three on your own site.
WP Rocket adds browser caching, lazy loading, minification, database cleanup and cache preloading in one simple setup, which free plugins often split up or leave out.
Run a speed test with a tool such as Pingdom or GTmetrix after setting up each plugin, and run it several times so the page is served from cache.
