There is no denying that WordPress.com has become an undeniable force in the world of blogging and website content management; it powers over 25% of websites on the internet today (according to Netcraft’s August 2010 Web Server Survey).

However, nothing comes without a price. The popularity and ease-of-use of WordPress.com has a direct correlation to its speed. WordPress, being a bare-bones CMS, is inherently slow because of the nature in which it was created – as a blogging platform. A lot of people think that running a blog means constantly updated content like sharing summer camp activities and live chat. In reality, that’s only half true – blogging requires constantly updated content, but there is no need for chat.

What does that have to do with speed? When a blogger constantly updates his content, he is typically updating it from the same computer. If chat is involved, there has to be either a team of people or someone constantly monitoring the chat-box. All of this requires computing power and data transfer capabilities – something that the typical blogger doesn’t have access to.

In most cases, a blogger has a small blog with as little as one-tenth of the pictures and as little as one-fourth of the amount of content that they need to post in order to meet their monthly quota – if not less. This unnecessary information overload is what makes WordPress slow.

But don’t worry; there are ways to speed up your blog or website! The following article lists five of the best plugins for WordPress based websites (including blogs) that can be used in order to increase speed.

1. WP Super Cache:

It is one of the most popular caching plugins available for WordPress, and a quick search of Google will show you that it is also one of the most effective. What makes WP Super Cache so effective? Well for starters, it’s a free plugin that can be installed directly from within your WordPress dashboard. It works by “caching” static files such as images, CSS stylesheets and JavaScript scripts in order to speed up your website and reduce server load. It also can integrate directly with CloudFlare, a content delivery network service that helps to speed up website loading for users across the globe – if you’re not using CloudFlare yet, you should be.

2. W3 Total Cache:

It is another great caching plugin that some people prefer over WP Super Cache. It is slightly more advanced than WP Super Cache because of its various settings and features; however, it lacks the simplicity that WP Super Cache offers. If you are just starting out with WordPress or don’t know much about it, then I recommend using WP Super Cache before moving into W3 Total Cache.

3. WP Rocket:

It is a premium caching plugin that can make your website load faster than ever before. It also comes with several additional features such as minification, browser caching and HTML compression – all of which contribute to the overall speed of your site. WP Rocket is only compatible with self-hosted WordPress websites (i.e. ones that you own).

4. WP Fastest Cache:

It works much in the same way that WP Super Cache does, with two major distinctions: you have to pay for it and it is not compatible with CloudFlare. Even though I am a fan of free software, if you are looking into caching plugins then there’s no question that you should go with WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache.

5. NitroPack:

It is a premium plugin that does more than just cache static files. It also provides file minification, site acceleration and website security for an affordable monthly fee. If you are looking to obtain all of the benefits offered by WP Super Cache in one complete package, then I would recommend NitroPack over WP Super Cache because of its additional features.

It’s worth noting that there are other plugins available for WordPress, but these are the best of the bunch. If you want to speed up your website or blog then I highly recommend downloading all five of them and setting them up on your website in order to get the most out of their features.

Closing Thoughts:

Even though WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache, WP Rocket and NitroPack are great caching plugins to use on your WordPress website, I would recommend using WP Fastest Cache first due to its simplicity. All five plugins provide additional features that you can turn on or off as needed; however, I always prefer the ones that don’t take too much time or energy to set up.

To conclude, WP Fastest Cache is the best plugin for WordPress because it takes less than five minutes to install and can be managed within your WordPress dashboard. I hope you found this article helpful.

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