Faster WordPress load times

WordPress is a great CMS. No doubt about that. But it can also be a lot more taxing on the servers than simple html pages due to the repeated use of php, every time a page loads. I have seen WordPress blogs on VPS, crash with inflow of rapid traffic from digg. Also, it takes a lot more time for WordPress pages to load compared to simple Web 1.0 sites.

So, How to make your wordpress blog load faster and put less load on the server? Want to know? Read on.

Actually, the problem causing element is the repeated use of php to parse the pages every time they load. This puts too much load on the servers to parse every page via php every time they are requested. A easy way to get round this is to cache your WordPress pages once they are parsed by php and then deliver the cached html pages to the subsequent page requests.

Thankfully, you do not need to know any serious programming or anything to achieve this. Just install any of the following free plugins and you are ready.

Image credits- GarryConn.com

W3 Total Cache by Frederick Townes

This is probably the best caching plugin out there trusted by the likes of Mashable, Css-Tricks, Yoast etc. It can dramatically improve the performance of your site by caching almost every aspect of your site. Actually, the author claims atleast 10X improvement in speed and upto 80% savings of bandwidth via Minify and HTTP compression of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and RSS feeds.

Best of the pack.

Hyper Cache by Satollo

Another good caching plugin for WordPress with features like compressed storage, autocleaning, Global translator compatiability. Even works with Microsoft IIS with a little configuration (not tested myself). It is also compatiable with wp-pda plugin which enables a blog to be accessible from mobile devices.

Good bet on Microsoft IIS and for sites having considerable mobile device traffic. Works in other blogs too but I prefer W3 Total Cache myself.

WP Super Cache by Donncha O Caoimh

This is a somewhat old caching plugins which still works pretty well. Uses Supercaching to serve html files to most users (unlogged users, users who have not left a comment etc) and thus reduces a lot of load from the php server.

Compatiable with older versions of WordPress.

Really Static by Erik Sefkow

Really static makes your blog faster by generating html pages and updating them everytime something is changed. Although this is super simple in its mechanism, I have found it to work very well.

Use this plugin if you have a simple blog without too many updating widgets.

DB Cache Reloaded by Daniel Frużyński

Rather than just generating static html pages like Really Static, DB Cache Reloaded caches every database query in a specified time. Unlike html caching plugins, this one uses less space and claims to make site much faster than the likes of WP-Cache or WP Super Cache.

Only use if you have acute shortage of space. It at most works on a par with WP-Cache but not better by any means in my tests.

All of these plugins are compatiable with WordPress 2.9.1 and are regularly updated as of the posting date. Please share your experience with WordPress Cache plugins and let us know if you know/have a better alternative to the above mentioned ones.

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