WP Super Cache is a Cache plugin for WordPressthat makes your website faster. It's free and easy to use.
Here's how cache works: It saves copies of your pages and posts so they load faster when someone visits them. Instead of recalculating all the information each time, it simply displays the saved version. This not only helps visitors see the page faster, but also reduces the load on the server running your website. The plugin is easy to install and use, even if you're not a tech expert.
I'll walk you through how to configure the WP Super Cache plugin, including the special settings, the CDN option, and the plugin tabs. However, if you're looking for the best cache plugin to improve your website's most important metrics and optimize loading times, you might want to look elsewhere.
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The plugin cannot improve or speed up anything, it only caches data so that it can load faster.
1. Easy
- Caching: On
- Test cache: test here, if everything is green, everything works.
- Timestamps don't match: If you get the error "Pages don't match! Timestamps don't match or weren't found!", try disabling HTML minification in Cloudflare and clearing your cache.
2. Advanced
- Caching: To
- Cache delivery method: Expert This is faster than Simple mode and has fewer CPU issues because it bypasses PHP and makes requests lighter (as explained on the plugin page). Once enabled, scroll down and click "Update Mod_Rewrite Rules." WP Super Cache will automatically modify your .htaccess file and display a message. If that doesn't work, you'll need to edit the rules yourself, which you can do directly in WP Super Cache. If that doesn't work, try Simple mode.
- Cache restrictions: Disable caching for logged-in users – logged-in users see individual content. If caching is enabled, they may see outdated data. Therefore, this feature should be disabled.
- No caching for pages with GET parameters: Active – if URLs with parameters like ?country=sweden are used, they should not be cached because the pages are dynamic.
- Compress pages: Active – GZIP is used for compression. If your host supports Brotli, you should use it, as it is more effective.
- Cache rebuildingActive – When the cache is rebuilt, the old cache is used until the new one is ready. This ensures that visitors still receive cached content and avoids CPU spikes.
- Cache HTTP headers with page content: This feature is only available in Easy Mode (which is slower). If you're in Easy Mode, you should enable this option.
- 304 Browser Caching: Available in Simple Mode. Enabled to utilize browser caching and load frequently accessed files directly from the browser.
- Treat known users as anonymous so they receive static cached files: Disabled – this would override the “Disable caching for logged in users” setting and should normally remain disabled.
- Enable dynamic caching: Available in simple mode. Enable to preserve dynamic parts of the site.
- Mobile device support: Disabled – only enable if you use a separate mobile version of the website. This is not necessary for a responsive site.
- Remove UTF8/Blog character support from .htaccess: Disabled – if you see strange characters on your website (e.g. Â â ¢), you should enable this. Otherwise, leave it disabled.
- Clear all cache files when a post or page is publishedActive – When you publish new content, the cache is cleared to display the most recent post. Unfortunately, there's no more precise control over which content is cleared.
- Additional homepage check: Active – checks the homepage more frequently before building the cache. WP Super Cache recommends enabling this option.
- Only update current page when comments are added: Active – when someone leaves a comment, only this page is re-cached. This makes sense, since no other pages are affected.
- Show most recent cached pages: Disabled – this only shows a list of the most recently cached pages, which is usually not necessary.
- Rough file locking: Disabled – WP Super Cache warns that this may slow down the site.
- Later Init: Disabled - only enable if the error "Super Cache dynamic page detected but Late Init not set" appears in the source code.
- Cache location: Informational only – shows the directory where the cached files are stored.
- Cache time limit: By default, this is set to 1800 seconds (30 minutes). Most websites should increase this to around 7200 seconds (2 hours) to avoid server overload. How often you refresh your page and the strength of your server play a role here.
- schedule: Here you can specify how often WP Super Cache checks for outdated cache files. "Timer" uses intervals, while "Clock" lets you set a specific time.
- Accepted filenames & rejected URIs: Dynamic pages (like WooCommerce) should be excluded from caching, static content (pages/posts) should be cached.
- URL strings, cookies, file names, tracking parameters, user agents: The previous setting should provide enough control over caching, but you can customize further here.
- LockdownDisabled – only enable during high traffic periods to prevent the cache from being updated when new comments are added. Usually not necessary.
3. CDN
The WP Super Cache CDN settings should only be used if you're using a CDN URL (i.e., cdn.example.com). This isn't intended for Cloudflare. CDN URLs are used by BunnyCDN (which I use in addition to Cloudflare), KeyCDN, StackPath, and most other CDNs besides Cloudflare. They typically require you to first create a pull zone, select which regions you want to use, and then you'll be assigned a CDN URL (also called a CDN hostname).
Once you have the CDN URL, click "Enable CDN Support" in WP Super Cache and paste it into the "Off-site URL" field. There's usually no need to configure the other CDN settings.
4. Contents
The Content tab shows the cache compared to expired pages and has settings for clearing the cache. This was set up on a demo site with no content, but yours should show that your pages are being cached.
5. Preload
Preloading is a technique that's sometimes not a good idea because it requires a lot of server resources. I recommend using it if you have a VPS (Virtual Private Server) or better. However, if you have shared hosting (sharing a server with others), you should probably avoid it. You can try it out and see for yourself if it works for you.
To use preloading, select preload mode and make sure garbage collection (a type of cleanup of unneeded data) is disabled. It's probably better not to preload tags or categories unless those pages are very important to your blog.
I set the preloading to refresh every 1440 minutes (once a day). This way, it doesn't consume as much CPU power as the default setting, which refreshes every 600 minutes.
6. Plug-ins
Leave all settings in the “Plugins” tab as they are.
Is WP Super Cache good?
WP Super Cache is a popular tool that helps improve WordPress website loading times. It does this by creating simple HTML files that load faster, helping to reduce server load.
However, WP Super Cache has its limitations when it comes to improving Google Core Web Vitals. These metrics measure the user experience, such as how quickly the page loads, how well the page interacts, and whether the layout is stable.
Meeting these requirements often requires additional improvements beyond simple caching. In such cases, specialized plugins or more comprehensive optimization strategies are often a better choice to achieve the desired results and improve the user experience.
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