WP Fastest Cache vs W3 Total Cache [2024] 💥
WP FASTEST CACHE vs W3 TOTAL CACHE
W3 Total Cache vs WP Fastest Cache, these are 2 cache plug-ins from the top 5 for Wordpress cache plug-ins. Both have a great rating on Wordpress.org and have been downloaded millions of times. The premium versions are of course much better and differ little from each other in quality. We will discuss these plugins one by one on their qualities. How easy they are to set up, how much they improve your loading times and their user experience.
WP FASTEST CACHE THEME (WP Fastest Cache vs W3 Total Cache)
WP FASTEST CACHE REVIEW
We start in this WP Fastest Cache vs W3 Total Cache comparison with WP Fastest Cache which does not automatically mean it would be better. As for WP Fastest Cache, we should definitely start with the fantastic rating it has on Wordpress.org and the 1.7 million downloads of their free plugin. It's not for nothing that the score is so high, I have years of experience with this plug-in and is still my favorite for free cache plug-ins.
Advertisement
WP FASTEST CACHE RATINGS
See the ratings and downloads for WP Fastest Cache above.
WP FASTEST CACHE SPEEDTEST
I tested a clean Wordpress install with and without the plug-in on GT-Metrix, one of the most renowned speedtests out there and you can see the results below. In seconds the loading time is halved and the total score is from 78 to 99 points. This is a great result for a cache plugin.
Without WP Fastest Cache
With WP Fastest Cache
WP FASTEST CACHE BASIC SETTINGS
We should definitely draw attention in this WP Fastest Cache review to the fact that after installing the plugin, everything will work right away and your site will be much faster. Above you saw what has been activated without you having to do anything about it. The ease of installation is the same as with the professional and highest rated cache-plug-in WP-Rocket.
WP FASTEST CACHE PREMIUM VERSION
Below is a list of everything that the premium version offers. In short, everything that other top plugins also offer. Nothing is missing, the premium version is a lot better than the free version which is already very good as we saw in the speed test.
The most important things are minifying for all your css and js and combining the files. Images must of course also be optimized. I think these features should also be included in the free version. Also very important is Render-Blocking JS so that not all javascript is already loaded if not yet needed. And Lazy Load is also a very useful feature for which there are tons of free plugins so why not just have it in the free version of WP Fastest cache.
WP FASTEST CACHE REVIEW: PRICING
The premium version is priced at $ 49 per site, with multi-site discounts. WP Fastest Cache is complete and a very good plugin yet for the same money I would prefer WP-Rocket, the number 1 in my collection best cache plugins. WP-Rocket is a bit faster and the dashboard looks much better. All in all, a more professional plugin for the same money.
W3 TOTAL CACHE THEME (WP Fastest Cache vs W3 Total Cache)
W3 TOTAL CACHE REVIEW
In this WP Fastest Cache vs W3 Total Cache comparison, we now discuss the free and premium versions of W3 Total Cache. With over a million active installations, W3 Total Cache is one of the most popular and best-known cache plug-ins for Wordpress. Also the average rating on Wordpress.org where the plugin is free for download is pretty good.
Install W3 Total Cache (Free version)
W3 Total Cache is a free plug-in that can simply be installed via "New plugin" in Wordpress as shown below. W3 Total Cache is one of the fastest and most complete free WordPress performance optimization plugins. W3 Total Cache improves your site's user experience by improving server performance, caching every aspect of your site, reducing download times and offering a content delivery network (CDN). Immediately after we activate the installation, we can continue with the plug-in settings. Make sure you have removed any other cache plugins beforehand.
Before you start, we strongly recommend that you check your site's performance using Google Pagespeed Insights, GT-Metrix and Pingdom Tools. This will give you a comparison before and after the installation of W3 Total Cache.
If you want to be done quickly you can download a file here what you can import into W3 Total Cache (unpack first), all settings will then be taken over in 1x. If you'd rather learn about your cache plug-in and set everything up yourself, just read on. I must also say for those who do import the optimal settings that if the website shows problems, certain settings must be undone, such as minifying javascript and css for example.
W3 Total Cache settings
Okay, let's see what W3 Total Cache has to offer.
Page Cache
The Page Cache must of course be "enabled", and under normal circumstances "Disk Enhanced" as shown below.
Minifying
Minifying should be used as much as possible, as long as no problems arise on your website (design). This is especially true when combining css or js files. Problems can arise here and in that case you have to restore it. Standard good settings are shown below.
Other cache types
I'm not going to bore you in this W3 Total Cache review with pictures of all different cache types, it more or less goes without saying. Everything can be turned on practically: Opcode cache, Database cache, Object cache, and Browser cache.
CDN Network
In this W3 Total Cache review we are impressed by the large amount of CDN networks that W3 Total Cache works perfectly with. The best choice is for me Stackpath CDN or Cloudflare which is free. As soon as you start paying (PRO) Stackpath is the cheaper choice. Both services are practically equally good when it comes to the premium version.
Lazy Load
Lazy Load has a huge positive influence on the loading time of your page and should therefore be on. Images are loaded blurry and become sharper and "beath the fold" images are loaded later.
Import & Export
All versions offer the import and export options with which you can export the settings of W3 Toal Cache to your PC and then upload them to another site of yours. This way you have much less work if you have multiple sites.
What does the Premium Version offer extra?
With the PRO version, you have monitoring in your dashboard, you can connect W3 Total Cache to Google Pagespeed, Disk Optimizing (database). You also have Fragment caching, Lazy Load for Google Maps, Full site caching for CDN, Render Blocking remove CSS (important), suitable for use with WPML, optimized to work with Genesis Framework (60% faster) and of course full ticket support.
W3 Total Cache review conclusion
My personal experience with this plug-in is good, although I find the settings too cumbersome and do not seem optimal for beginners. An easier and also better plug-in to achieve fast loading times is WP-Rocket. Also WP-Optimize is a good alternative. The Premium version of W3 Total Cache costs a whopping $ 99 a year, double WP-Rocket and has no multi-site discounts. So this plugin is outrageously expensive.
WP Fastest Cache vs W3 Total Cache conclusion
Thanks for reading this WP Fastest Cache vs W3 Total Cache comparison to the end. These 2 plug-ins differ little from each other, which applies to both the free and the premium versions. Out-of-the-box without having to set anything up and immediately after installation, WP Fastest Cache is certainly faster, you don't have to do anything else there. That only comes with the premium version. But there too, I slightly prefer WP Fastest Cache mainly for convenience. W3 Total Cache Premium is lightning fast and offers fantastic options but is just a bit more cumbersome.
Advertisement