In this ultra-modern world, the internet is about speed and quality. Most users prefer web pages that load quickly in all search engines. Luckily, web hosting is an opportune field of work with several strategies by which you can speed up your sites. Websites that are built using WordPress can be powered using special cache plugins.
What are Cache Plugins?
Technically, cache plugins are designed to reduce the amount of server load involved while opening a website. It uses and shares resources carefully to prevent unexpected storage issues. Cache plugins convert conventional websites into static ones. When a WordPress request is sent for a website, it doesn’t search directly in the server; instead, it looks for the page in the cache folder. This saves lots of time and prevents overloading of the CPU too.
What is The Best Cache Plugin for WordPress?
There are plenty of cache plugins for WordPress in the market. However, choosing the best WordPress cache plugin for your website needs deep research into your server configurations and software that has been installed by the hosting company. But don’t panic, i will list below the best and simplest cache plugins for WordPress.
W3 Total Cache
W3 Total Cache (by Frederick Townes) has more than 900,000 Active Installs and almost 1700 users rate it as 5 star plugin. Trusted by countless companies, web hosts and webmasters like: Go Daddy, Host Gator, mattcutts, mashable, yoast and and tons of thousands of top successful sites. In my modest personal opinion, it’s the best WordPress cache plugins ever.
When it comes to cache, speed, and optimizing your website, only W3 Total Cache pop into the WordPress user’s mind. It uses many performance optimization techniques like browser cache, page cache, object cache, database cache, minify, and content delivery network support.
It has the ability to cut off the load page time by half, reduce the total page size, boost the page speed to the maximum point and make your pages load almost instantly. If you are trying to find the best and simplest way to improve your page speed and increase your Google page score for your website, then W3 Total Cache is your best way to achieve these points.
We can’t cover all points for this massive and huge plugin, but we will make the ultimate and in-depth topic for W3 Total Cache later. In meanwhile, read more about page speed optimization tips in our ultimate tutorial.
WP Super Cache
WP Super Cache (by Donncha O Caoimh and Automattic) one of the finest plugin that works well with dedicated servers and VPS. As mentioned previously, the plugin generates static files (HTML) from dynamic scripts (PHP). It has the ability to speed up websites even in the midst of high traffic.
The super cache plugin works in line with the server’s cache technique. Critical data and frequently accessed information is stored in a different location (temporarily) to avoid overloading of the server.
Features of WP Super Cache
WP Super Cache comprises of many enticing features. Here is a quick walk through the plugin’s top notch offerings:
- WP Super Cache has a fine tuned plug n hook system.
- To reduce the turnaround time, WP Super Cache compresses web pages.
- The caching system will let you use the special Content Delivery Network (CDN).
- , Unlike many cache plugins, WP Super Cache supports smartphones and tablet computers too. Mobile support is one of its up-selling features.
- In most cases, the system divides cache files into two different segments. Critical Meta details are stored separately in a directory to make searches faster and easier.
Moving on, it is quite easy to install, use and upgrade this cache plugin. The WordPress dashboard will let you install the plugin. To activate WP Super Cache, you must navigate to the plugin’s admin page. There are two ways to verify if the plugin was installed properly. One, a message that states the webpage was stored successfully will appear with the source code. Similarly, you can verify the .htaccess file.
Hyper Cache
Hyper Cache (by Stefano Lissa) allows the unaware users for easy configuration and less technical options to work on it. If you are trying to find just one click cache button, then its Hyper Cache.
When W3 Total Cache fails to work properly on your server because of missing required server modules or resources, then it’s your time to turn the speed table to the simplest cache plugin ever, which is Hyper Cache.
This plugin generates static HTML files from your dynamic WordPress blog. After an HTML file is generated your webserver will serve that file to your visitors instead of the heavier and more expensive WordPress PHP scripts.
ZenCache
ZenCache (by WebSharks, JasWSInc and Raamdev) also known as Quick Cache, is a simple website speed without compromise. Start speed up your site with a reliable and fast WordPress cache. It has many simple but effective features to enhance your website speed. For instance, the automatic expiration time for cache files, caching for 404 requests, and many other options that you may discover by installing this simple plugin.
WP Fastest Cache
WP Fastest Cache (by Emre Vona) is the simplest and fastest WP Cache system. It works on the fundamental basics speed optimization like: minify, enable gzip compression, leverage browser caching and combination of CSS and JS files.
To Sum it Up
On the whole, WordPress Cache plugins reduce resource usage and speed up the time required to load a webpage. This makes the cache plugin a must-have!
Looking for a faster website? If you really care about your website and would like to serve your pages faster, then you have to put WordPress Cache plugin in your top priority considerations.
