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WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache - Which WordPress Cache plugin is Better?

Last Updated January 12, 2015
Est. Reading: 2 minutes

If you are WordPress site owner and wants to increase the site speed you would have definitely tried some caching plugin. Also, you might have come across some WordPress cache plugins too. Top players in caching plugins are WP Super Cache and W3 Total Cache. WP Super Cache has more than 5,535,472+ downloads and W3 Total Cache has more than 3,095,642+ downloads. So let me repeat the question again WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache - Which is Better?

Some of you might think WP Super Cache has more downloads so it is better. There is a reason why WP Super Cache has more downloads than W3 Total Cache. The reason is simple, it is very easy to use it. Even W3 Total Cache is easy to use, but needs some little more work. May be 1-2 minutes extra then WP Super Cache.

I was a lazy ass and used WP Super Cache and was happy with the boost in speed I got. Used WP Super Cache for all my sites. But last week when I was updating my personal blog jijojose.com just fun, I disabled WP Super Cache and installed w3 Total Cache. Then I tested the page speed on GTmetrix, I was amazed to see the results. That was the first time I saw green color on my page speed results. After seeing the results I wanted to install W3 Total Cache on all my sites powered by WordPress.

As a result, I installed it here on Tech Kunji but before installing I did a test on GTmetrix. Check out the result. After installing W3 Total Cache the result was improved almost 10%. Not a big difference for us, but Google bots considers this. Check out the new result.

You can compare the results here. Note that the right one is WP Super Cache and Left one is W3 Total Cache.

I recommend W3 Total Cache for both new and experienced WordPress users. New users just enable the basic features and if you are experienced go crazy and optimize your server as much you want. So which is the best WordPress cache plugin according to you?

Got something to say? Let me know through the comments. 

Written by Jijo Jose

Founder welovefilm & ShortoftheMonth. MBA student, gamer & blogger. Loves watching Animated & Sci-Fi Films.

2 comments on “WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache - Which WordPress Cache plugin is Better?”

  1. I f*cked with w3 total cache too much. Got a mail from my host regarding cpu usage, did my cpu usage increase cos I tweaked too much or does w3 hog too much cpu power?

    BTW, great article.

    -Jonah

    1. I think it doesn't take much cpu power. I am running W3 on my 3 sites on the same server and everything is running smooth.

      I suggest you to remove the plugin, clean the plugin folder from your plugin directory using FTP client and then re-install the plugin. Stay with the default and recommended settings for a while. Setup a test site and play around on that.

      Hope my reply helped.

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