I’ve probably tried every available WordPress caching plugin, and even different combinations of them. After a lot blood, sweat and broken websites, I’ve determined that the best WordPress caching plugin is a certain paid one.
Free Caching Plugins are Not Worth the Trouble
None of the free caching plugins are worth the problems they cause. What with making your images go wonky and conflicts with other plugins, your better off not using any caching plugin at all rather than any of the free ones. I include the ones you’ve probably heard people recommend like W3 Total Cache and WP Super Cache in that statement.
In my experience, these plugins might improve your stats on Pingdom or GTmetrix, but they don’t really speed up your site’s loading times. One thing’s for sure, if a problem crops up on your website, the source of the problem is most likely a free caching plugin, if you’re using one.
WP Rocket is the Best WordPress Caching Plugin
When it comes to caching plugins for WordPress, you really do get what you pay for. The best WordPress caching plugin is a premium one called WP Rocket. The best thing about this plugin is that it works. Like I said above, free caching plugins, even the ones people claim are “the best WordPress caching plugin,” are more trouble than they’re worth. Here are,in my opinion, the best things about WP Rocket:
- It’s easy to configure
- It doesn’t cause problems on your site
- It’s constantly being updated and improved
- It easily integrates with Cloudflare
- They have great customer support
- They give big discounts to loyal customers
The one drawback to this plugin–even though it’s the best WordPress caching plugin–is that it’s not free. On the other hand, it’s not prohibitively expensive either. Here’s the official pricing breakdown.
- $39 per year for 1 website
- $99 per year for 3 websites
- $199 per year for unlimited websites
Personally, I opted for door no. 3, the “Infinite” plan. That includes a developer’s license which means I can use the plugin on all of my clients’ websites as well as all of my own. Obviously, that’s not necessarily the best plan for everyone, but it works really well for me. In fact, I count WP Rocket as an essential WordPress plugin. As I mentioned above, the folks at WP Rocket give big discounts to loyal customers. I only pay $99.50 per year even though the official price is $199. It’s a great deal because I can use the plugin on an unlimited number of websites.
It’s Not For Everyone
Of course, not everyone has or manages a large number of websites. If you have only 1 to 3 WordPress sites and none of them are a source of income, you may not want to use any premium plugins. If that is the case, I recommend that you don’t use a caching plugin at all rather than using any of the free ones. I’ve tried them all and in my opinion, they all have one thing in common: they’re more trouble than they’re worth.