Key Takeaways
- Clearing your WordPress cache ensures visitors see the most recent version of your website content.
- You can clear WordPress cache through five methods: browser settings, caching plugins, hosting dashboard, CDN purge, or manual file deletion.
- Regular cache clearing helps resolve display issues, plugin conflicts, and security vulnerabilities.
- Top caching plugins include Breeze, WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, Hummingbird, and LiteSpeed Cache.
- Server-level caching (Varnish, Redis, Memcached) combined with application-level caching delivers optimal performance.
Caching plays a critical role in achieving optimal website performance. While it was once a little-known concept in the WordPress community, caching is now essential for delivering fast, responsive websites. Properly implementing caching optimization tactics can significantly enhance website performance and user experience. If you’re wondering why your WordPress site is slow, poor caching configuration is often the culprit.
However, there are times when you need to clear WordPress cache to ensure visitors see your latest updates. Whether you’ve just published new content, updated your theme, or installed a plugin, knowing how to clear cache in WordPress is an essential skill for every site owner.
This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about WordPress caching—from understanding what it is to mastering five different methods for clearing your cache.
We’ll also explore the best WordPress cache plugins to optimize your site’s speed and performance.
- What Is Caching?
- Why Clear Your WordPress Website Cache?
- How to Clear Your WordPress Cache (5 Methods)
- Enable WordPress Caching
- Best WordPress Cache Plugins
- Summary
- FAQ
What Is Caching?
Caching is the process of storing and reusing frequently accessed assets to improve website performance and user experience while reducing server load. With caching, WordPress can quickly serve web content fast while keeping the server available to handle other requests.
This is particularly important when you want to speed up your WordPress site for better user engagement and SEO rankings.
Page Caching is a common method that stores a copy of the web page and displays it when a user requests it, eliminating the need to fetch page content from the backend and database. WordPress caching helps maintain a balance between server resources and user requests by serving pre-saved data to users.
Think of caching like a restaurant’s daily specials board. Instead of the chef explaining today’s specials to every customer individually (which takes time), they write it on a board once, and every customer can read it instantly.
Similarly, WordPress cache stores your page content so it can be served immediately without regenerating it for each visitor.
Why Clear Your WordPress Website Cache?
Clearing your WordPress cache is essential to maintain a high-performing and up-to-date website.
Here are the key reasons why you should regularly clear cache in WordPress:
- Ensure users see the most recent content: When you update your website, clearing the cache helps users visit your site’s latest version rather than an older cached version. This is especially important after publishing new blog posts, updating product information, or making design changes.
- Optimize website speed: Clearing the cache optimizes server resources, resulting in a faster and more seamless user experience. Old cached files can become fragmented or outdated, potentially slowing down your site. You can use WordPress speed test tools to measure the impact of cache clearing on your site’s performance.
- Resolve website issues: By freeing up server resources, cache clearance can iron out any hiccups in your site’s performance. Many display glitches, broken layouts, and plugin conflicts can be resolved simply by clearing the cache.If you’re experiencing a slow WordPress admin dashboard, cache clearing is often the first troubleshooting step. By Clearing cache and resolving plugin conflicts can often fix 409 conflict errors and other connectivity issues, such as err network changed.
- Improve website security: Clearing the cache can help prevent security breaches and protect your website from threats. Cached data from old plugin versions or security patches should be purged to ensure your site runs the latest, most secure code. Consider pairing this with secure WordPress hosting for comprehensive protection.
- Lower bandwidth consumption: Using cached pages efficiently means your site uses less bandwidth. This is particularly beneficial if you have bandwidth limits or pay for data transfer. Regularly clearing and refreshing your cache ensures you’re not serving unnecessarily large or outdated files. Learn more about serving static assets efficiently to further reduce bandwidth usage.
- Improve site reliability: A well-maintained cache system handles traffic spikes better and prevents crashes during busy periods. Clearing stale cache entries ensures your caching system operates at peak efficiency when you need it most.
- Support scalability: As your WordPress site grows, proper cache management helps it scale effectively. You can serve more visitors without needing to upgrade to a significantly more powerful hosting solution immediately. Clean cache management is the foundation of a scalable website architecture.
Overall, clearing your WordPress website cache regularly ensures your website runs smoothly and provides users with the best possible experience.
How to Clear Your WordPress Cache (5 Methods)
Now that you understand why clearing cache is important, let’s dive into the practical methods. Here are five proven ways to clear WordPress cache and ensure visitors see your updated content.
Method 1: Clear Your Web Browser Cache
The simplest method to WordPress clear cache is by clearing your web browser cache.
Web browsers often store static website content, like images, stylesheets, and JavaScripts to improve loading speed, but this can prevent new content from being displayed.
To clear your browser cache, follow these steps:
- Open your web browser and click on the menu icon (three dots in Chrome, three lines in Firefox).
- Select “More tools” or “Settings.”
- Choose “Clear browsing data.”
- Check the box for “Cached images and files,” select your time range, and click “Clear data.”
By completing these steps, your browser cache will be cleared, and you’ll be able to see any new changes to your website. You can also use keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl + Shift + Delete (Windows) or Cmd + Shift + Delete (Mac) in most browsers.
Method 2: Clear Cache in Your WordPress Caching Plugin
You can also employ a WordPress caching plugin to clear WordPress cache.
In this demonstration, we’ll use the Breeze plugin—a free caching solution developed by Cloudways.
- Log in to your WordPress Dashboard.
- Install and Activate the Breeze plugin from Plugins > Add New.
- Navigate to Settings > Breeze in your WordPress admin panel.
- Click the “Purge All Cache” button to clear all cached content, or use the Breeze dropdown in your admin toolbar for quick access.
Most caching plugins offer similar functionality. Look for buttons labeled “Clear Cache,” “Purge Cache,” “Delete Cache,” or “Empty All Caches” in your plugin’s settings page.
For a comprehensive comparison, check out our guide on W3 Total Cache settings.
Method 3: Clear Cache in Your WordPress Hosting
You can also clear the cache using your WordPress hosting. Luckily, some web hosts, such as Cloudways and WPEngine, have built-in caching options to speed up your WordPress site.
In this tutorial, I’ll use Cloudways’ dashboard to clear the cache from a WordPress site. Since our managed WordPress hosting optimizes the servers with an advanced caching mechanism to ensure optimum performance and availability, it frees you from any server-level caching issues.
Follow the steps below to clear the cache via Cloudways:
- Log in to your Cloudways account.
- Go to your Main Server > Server Management Settings > Manage Services.
- Enable Varnish to activate your Varnish Cache.
- After that, click PURGE to clear the caches from your server.
Doing so will clear your server-level cache.
If you have multiple applications on your server and want to disable the cache for any of them, follow these steps:
- Go to Applications > Select your Application.
- You’ll be redirected to the Application Settings section.
- Enable the Varnish Cache option to clear your app’s cache.
You can follow the same steps for all of your applications to clear their cache.
Method 4: Clear Your CDN Cache
If you’re using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) like Cloudflare to speed up your website, you’ll need to clear its cache separately.
CDNs store cached copies of your site across multiple global servers, so clearing your WordPress cache alone won’t update the CDN’s cached version. For detailed setup instructions, check our guide on WordPress CDN integration.
To clear Cloudflare cache:
- Log in to your Cloudflare account at cloudflare.com.
- Select the website you want to manage from your dashboard.
- Navigate to the “Caching” section in the left sidebar.
- Click on “Configuration.”
- Click “Purge Everything” to clear all cached content, or use “Custom Purge” to clear specific URLs.
❗ Important
Purging everything will temporarily increase load on your origin server as the CDN rebuilds its cache. For minor updates, consider using Custom Purge to clear only the specific pages you’ve changed.
Other CDN providers like KeyCDN, StackPath, or Bunny.net have similar cache purging options in their respective dashboards. Check your CDN provider’s documentation for specific instructions. For enterprise-level CDN features, explore the Cloudflare Enterprise add-on available through Cloudways.
Method 5: Clear WordPress Cache Manually via File Manager
For manual cache clearing—or when other methods aren’t working—you can directly delete cache files using FTP or the File
Manager provided by your web hosting service. This method gives you complete control over cached files.
To clear cache manually:
- Connect to your website using an FTP client (like FileZilla) or access File Manager through your hosting control panel (cPanel, Plesk, etc.).
- Navigate to your WordPress installation’s root directory.
- Open the wp-content folder.
- Locate and open the cache folder.
- Select all files and folders inside the cache directory and delete them.
⚠️ Caution
Be careful to only remove files within the cache folder. Do not delete the cache folder itself or any files outside of it, as this could break your website. When in doubt, create a backup before proceeding.
The typical path to the cache folder is: /public_html/wp-content/cache/
Some caching plugins store cache files in different locations. For example, WP Super Cache uses wp-content/cache/supercache/, while W3 Total Cache uses wp-content/cache/page_enhanced/. Check your specific plugin’s documentation if you can’t find the cache files.
Enable WordPress Caching
WordPress caching significantly improves your website performance and speed. There are two ways to enable caching: server-side and application-side.
For optimal results, consider hosting on the fastest WordPress hosting platform with built-in caching capabilities.
Server-Level Caching
The first caching type, i.e., server-level caching, is implemented on the server and includes the following mechanisms:
Varnish – Reverse Proxy
Varnish caching is a great way of speeding up website load time by as much as 10x. It is a reverse HTTP proxy that acts as a middleman between the server and the clients. It caches the content after the initial request and serves the copy to subsequent requests.
Also, the Varnish cache greatly enhances the PHP server’s efficiency. Unlike traditional caching plugins, which can experience performance issues under heavy load, Varnish cache increases server efficiency by up to 100 times.
It also caches both dynamic and static content, making it an excellent tool for boosting website and server performance.
Page Cache
Page Cache, also known as site cache, stores web pages, images, and other media on the server for quick retrieval when a user requests the same content. It maintains a memory reference triggered by repeated requests, eliminating the need to fetch data from the backend and database.
Users can set an expiry for the content, which is replaced with new and updated content once it expires. This feature can be controlled from the user’s browser for maximum flexibility.
Redis – Database Caching
Redis is an exceptional tool that excels in object and database caching, optimizing website performance by caching database queries. As a robust open-source option, Redis supports a wide range of data structures and in-memory for faster processing.
Memcached – Object Caching
Memcached is a powerful open-source tool that facilitates caching of database queries through an in-memory key-value storage process, enhancing the speed of dynamic web applications by optimizing data fetch time. For instance, dynamic sites like ecommerce stores can benefit from Memcached to lessen the load on the database and expedite redundant requests.
Learn more about how to speed up your WooCommerce store with proper caching strategies.
Also, Memcached optimizes data fetch time by eliminating the need to go to the website backend and query database tables for data items, thus improving website performance.
Opcode Caching
Opcode Caching is an efficient optimization technique to cache the already processed PHP code in memory, allowing for a faster serving of subsequent requests. It saves the converted bytecode in memory to be served instantly for subsequent requests, improving the PHP apps’ overall efficiency.
PHP versions 5.5 and later are shipped with Opcode caching. Opcode caching improves the speed and helps the server handle more unique requests in a given time.
CDN Cache
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a globally distributed service that provides cached copies of a website from multiple locations, reducing latency by serving data from the nearest node to the end user.
For setup instructions, see our comprehensive Cloudflare WordPress CDN guide.
CDNs serve both the static and dynamic, conserving server bandwidth and enhancing website security by obscuring the server/website location.
Application-Level Caching
Client-side cache or application-level cache can be implemented using WordPress plugins to improve website performance by storing static data in the user’s browser for future use.
Browser Caching
Browser caching allows for the caching of static content, such as images, CSS, and JavaScript files, on the user’s browser to improve the website’s performance and the page content. This type of caching is particularly useful for WordPress sites.
Major web browsers typically have built-in cache management features and store these files in local storage to speed up page loading. However, it is highly recommended to clear the browser cache periodically to ensure optimal website performance.
For more WordPress speed improvement tips, check our detailed guide.
Best WordPress Cache Plugins
Using cache plugins is essential to enhance your WordPress site’s performance. However, with abundant cache plugins, choosing the most effective one can take time and effort.
This section lists the best cache plugins for WordPress, providing valuable insights and recommendations to optimize your website’s speed and user experience.
1) Breeze
Breeze, a free and highly efficient WordPress cache plugin developed by Cloudways, offers a comprehensive solution to optimize website performance.
This plugin boasts a simple yet powerful interface that minimizes application-level caching issues while providing advanced features such as the minification and grouping of CSS and JS files.
It also works seamlessly with WordPress Multisite networks.
Features
- Offers full-page caching and browser caching
- Minifies your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files to speed up loading times
- Enables Gzip compression
- Performs database optimization
- Offers CDN integration
- Provides SSL support
- Enables lazy loading on sites
Rating
Breeze plugin has a rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars on WordPress.org based on 124 reviews.
2) Hummingbird Page Speed Optimization
Developed by WPMU DEV, Hummingbird is widely recognized as one of the best WordPress cache plugins available.
With over 100,000 active installations, this plugin offers advanced features like compression, minification, lazy loading, and browser caching tools to optimize website speed and enhance user experience.
Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced developer, Hummingbird’s user-friendly interface and comprehensive functionality make it an excellent choice for anyone seeking to improve their website’s performance.
Features
- Enables text compression
- Minifies CSS, HTML, and JavaScript
- Offers Gzip compression
- Defers unused CSS
- Lazy-load offscreen images
- CDN integration
- Uptime monitoring
- Performs security scans
Rating
The Hummingbird plugin has a 4.7 out of 5 stars on WordPress.org based on 1487 reviews.
3) W3 Total Cache
The W3 Total Cache plugin offers key features like AMP and SSL support, CDN management for media, and database object caching.
With over a million active installations, it is one of WordPress’s most widely used cache plugins.
Features
- Offers transparent CDN management
- SSL support
- Accelerated mobile page support
- Minifies CSS, HTML, and JavaScript
- Offers Gzip compression
- Defers non-critical CSS and JavaScript
Rating
W3 Total Cache plugin has a rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars on WordPress.org based on 5411 reviews.
4) WP Rocket
WP Rocket is a highly regarded performance plugin widely recognized as one of the best performance plugins for WordPress.
Implementing this powerful tool helps you significantly reduce your site’s loading time with just a few clicks.
Furthermore, WP Rocket’s robust performance features can help you boost your Google PageSpeed and Core Web Vitals scores, allowing you to optimize your site’s performance with no effort.
Features
- Offers full-page caching and browser caching
- Minify CSS, HTML, and JavaScript
- Offers Gzip compression
- Lazy-load offscreen images
- CDN integration
Rating
WP Rocket plugin has a rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot based on 2750 reviews.
5) LiteSpeed Cache
LiteSpeed Cache (LSCWP) is an all-in-one site acceleration plugin with over 6 million active installations, making it one of the most popular caching solutions for WordPress.
What sets LiteSpeed Cache apart is its exclusive server-level cache integration with LiteSpeed Web Server, delivering performance that traditional PHP-based caching plugins simply cannot match.
While the server-level caching features require a LiteSpeed-powered host, the plugin’s optimization features work on any web server, including Apache and Nginx.
Features
- Exclusive server-level caching for LiteSpeed servers
- QUIC.cloud CDN integration for global content delivery
- Image optimization with WebP conversion
- CSS/JavaScript minification and combination
- Critical CSS generation
- Lazy loading for images and iframes
- Database optimization
- Object caching support (Redis/Memcached)
- Page optimization and crawler for cache warming
- WordPress Multisite and WooCommerce compatible
Rating
LiteSpeed Cache has a rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars on WordPress.org based on 2,700 reviews.
💡 Pro Tip
While the plugins above are highly regarded as the best WordPress cache plugins, you must back up your WordPress site before implementing any form of caching. Doing so can safeguard your website against potential data loss or corruption during caching. Also consider optimizing your WordPress database alongside caching for maximum performance gains.
Summary
Effective WordPress caching is crucial for optimizing your website’s performance. By properly implementing caching techniques and knowing how to clear WordPress cache when needed, you can significantly improve your website’s user experience, SEO, and even generate additional revenue.
Remember, you have five methods to clear cache in WordPress: clearing your browser cache, using a caching plugin like Breeze, utilizing your hosting dashboard, purging your CDN cache, or manually deleting cache files via File Manager. Choose the method that best fits your situation—or use multiple methods for a comprehensive cache clear.
However, it is important to note that before applying any caching technique outlined in this tutorial, you must take a complete backup of your site. This precautionary measure can help ensure that your website’s data is protected in the event of any issues that may arise during the optimization process.
For hassle-free caching and optimal performance, consider migrating to Cloudways Autonomous for fully managed, auto-scaling WordPress hosting.
Q.
Where is my WordPress cache?
A. In WordPress, cache files are typically stored in the wp-content/cache/ directory or in the directory used by your caching plugin.
The cache could also be stored in your browser or on the server, depending on how caching is configured.
Q.
Is it safe to clear WordPress cache frequently?
A. Yes, it’s generally safe to clear your WordPress cache regularly.
Doing so can fix issues like outdated content, layout problems not showing up, or plugin conflicts, and it helps keep your website running smoothly and fast for your visitors.
Q. What does WordPress cache do?
A. WordPress cache helps improve website performance by storing static versions of dynamic pages and content.
Caching reduces server load, speeds up page load times, and improves overall user experience.
Q. How do I clear my WordPress REST cache?
A. If you’re using a caching plugin like W3 Total Cache or WP Rocket, there should be an option in the plugin’s settings to clear the entire cache, which will also clear REST API cache.
- Clear Cache via Plugin: Go to the plugin’s settings and click the “Clear Cache” or “Purge Cache” button.
- Clear Cache via Server: If your server is caching REST API responses, you may need to clear the cache through your hosting control panel or reach out to your hosting provider for assistance.
- Programmatically: Use the
wp_cache_flush()function if you’re a developer and need to programmatically clear the cache.
Q.
What happens if I delete the cache on WordPress?
A. Deleting the cache removes stored data such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Your site will regenerate these files when users visit, which may temporarily increase server load, but it ensures visitors see the most up-to-date content.
Q. What is the best caching for WordPress?
A. The best caching depends on your site’s needs.
Some good options include W3 Total Cache, WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache, and Breeze (for Cloudways).
These plugins offer features like page caching, browser caching, database optimization, and CDN integration.
Q.
Do I need a cache plugin for WordPress?
A. Using a cache plugin isn’t mandatory, but it really helps.
It makes your site load faster, eases the strain on your server, and ensures your visitors have a smoother experience, especially if your site sees a lot of traffic.
Q. What are the benefits of clearing WordPress cache?
A. Clearing your cache ensures visitors see the latest content, fixes display issues, prevents plugin conflicts, and can help troubleshoot site problems.
It also maintains smooth site performance and improves user experience.
Q.
How to optimize WordPress cache for better performance?
A. To optimize cache:
- Enable page and browser caching.
- Minify CSS, JS, and HTML files.
- Use object caching (Redis or Memcached).
- Combine caching with a CDN for global speed improvements.
- Regularly clear outdated cache to keep performance consistent.
Q.
How does WordPress cache differ from browser cache?
A. WordPress cache stores pre-generated content on your server to speed up page delivery, while browser cache stores website files locally on a visitor’s device.
Both help load pages faster, but WordPress cache affects all visitors, whereas browser cache only benefits returning users.
Q.
How often should I clear my WordPress cache?
A. Clear your cache after major updates, content changes, theme modifications, or plugin installations to ensure visitors see the latest version of your site.
For most websites, clearing cache once a week or after significant changes is sufficient.
Q.
Can I use multiple caching plugins simultaneously?
A. No, using more than one caching plugin can cause conflicts and actually slow down your site.
Stick to a single caching plugin and configure it properly for best results.
Zain Imran
Zain is an electronics engineer and an MBA who loves to delve deep into technologies to communicate the value they create for businesses. Interested in system architectures, optimizations, and technical documentation, he strives to offer unique insights to readers. Zain is a sports fan and loves indulging in app development as a hobby.
