Best WP Rocket Alternatives (Better/Cheaper WordPress Caching Plugins in 2023)

Unless you’re a fully-fledged web developer or engineer, you’re only going to have a surface knowledge of what caching is. But that’s okay, all you need to know is that you, well, need it. And that caching is vital for your WordPress site’s loading speeds.

Nothing turns a website visitor off more than slow-loading pages. And if they’re sat waiting for a page to load for more than a mere few seconds, they’re going to close your site in frustration and quickstep it over to your nearest competitor.

To avoid this very avoidable issue, you need to get some caching in your life. But which provider do you choose?

WordPress caching plugins are ten a penny, but only a few are worth their salt. WP Rocket is by many considered the gold standard for WordPress speed optimization, but you can also consider plenty of alternatives.

So stay with me as I go into what caching is, my top WP Rocket alternatives, and one you really should avoid.

The 12 Best WP Rocket Alternatives

There’s no doubt that WP Rocket is a great solution for your caching needs, but there are alternatives to consider. Here are my top paid and free WordPress caching plugin recommendations.

1. WP Fastest Cache

WP Fastest Cache is a premium plugin with plans available depending on how many licenses you require. It’s probably the closest to WP Rocket in terms of what it offers for features.

You get a holistic speed optimization tool that drastically improves your caching and web loading speeds overall. Its free plan is somewhat limited, so it’s worth upgrading for all the extras you get, such as minification, preloading, and GZIP compression.

A big plus for the paid plans is that they are a lifetime fee. Meaning you only pay once, and you have the plugin for life. Considering WP Rocket charges on an annual basis, I think this is an absolute bargain.

While the user interface could probably do with a facelift, the tool is still easy to grasp and has enough configuration options to satisfy the most demanding developer.

Overall, in my humble opinion, it’s the best alternative to WP Rocket.

WP Fastest Cache Features

Here, we can look forward to comparable features to WP Rocket:

• Caching on all devices
• Full minification 
• GZIP compression
• Render blocking resources and combine JS
• Browser caching with image optimization
• Convert WebP
• Auto cache log delete and cache cleanup
• Lazy load
• Asynchronous Google fonts
• Full caching statistics and analytics

WP Fastest Cache Pricing

The amount you pay for WP Fastest Cache depends on the number of licenses you need:

• Bronze: $49/lifetime (single license)
• Silver: $125/lifetime (three licenses)
• Gold: $175/lifetime (five licenses)
• Platinum: $300/lifetime (ten licenses)

There is also a free version of the plugin where you can use limited features on a single license. If you do pay, you have a 30-day money-back guarantee available.

2. WP-Optimize

WP-Optimize is a worthy tool, especially if you’re after image compression and file optimization features. 

First of all, it’s an excellent alternative to WP Rocket as it provides very similar tools, although its performance isn’t quite up to par with WP Rocket. That said, you do get some nice extras, such as the ability to bulk-compress your entire media library.

Historically, the plugin has been completely free – and it still is – but its creators, Team Updraft, have recently released a premium version of the tool. For this, you, of course, get stronger, better, faster features than the free version.

WP-Optimize Features

The free version of the plugin gives you the following:

• Site caching and database cleaning
• CSS and JS minification
• Image compression
• WebP support

Upgrading to the paid version gives you everything above plus:

• Multisite support
• Advanced optimization options
• Unwanted image removal
• Lazy loading
• Individual table optimization
• Scheduling
• Enhanced logging and reporting
• Multilingual and multi-currency caching
• Automatic Cloudflare cache purge
• Power Tweaks
• Premium support

WP-Optimize Pricing

If you want just the free version, you can get it here. Otherwise, there are three paid versions available:

• Starter plan: $49/year (two licenses)
• Business plan: $99/year (five licenses)
• Unlimited plan: $199/year (unlimited licenses)

Be aware that there is no money-back guarantee for this provider. Try this caching plugin if you’re looking for a free WP Rocket alternative. It has everything you’d want to optimize your WordPress website speed.

3. W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache is a WordPress caching plugin designed by BoldGrid and is a developer’s dream, thanks to the sheer number of configuration and customization options it has available (15 pages worth, actually). Boasting over 11 million downloads, this is currently the most popular web performance optimization tool available.

Even better is that this plugin is 100% free (although a paid version is available).

However, because of the insane number of features, this isn’t for the faint-hearted – or the beginner user. In fact, if you’ve only just discovered caching and why you need it, you’re probably better off going for a simpler tool, even if you have to pay for it.

W3 Total Cache Features

W3’s features are too numerous to list in its entirety (that would require an article all on its own). But here’s an overview of the most important:

• GZIP compression
• Extension framework for Cloudflare, WPML, and more
• Minification and concatenation of HTML files, CSS files, and JS files
• CDN management
• Works with all hosting types
• Object cache
• Database cleanup
• Mobile and SSL support
• Full minification
• Numerous security features for website safety
• Reverse proxy integration

W3 Total Cache Pricing

W3 Total Cache is 100% free and available from the WordPress plugin store. Once you have installed the plugin, you do have the option to upgrade to the Pro version for $99/year. 

This price gets you more customization and better support.

4. FlyingPress

FlyingPress is a premium cache plugin (no free version here, unfortunately), but you do get a rather winning range of features that rival WP Rocket. 

This tool doesn’t just focus on caching, it’s a holistic speed and performance plugin that works to optimize every nook and cranny of your WordPress site.

What I like here is that rather than enticing you over with low first-year prices, although you pay a bit more upfront, the prices drop during your second-year renewal. On the other hand, you have to pay extra ($3/month) for the platform’s CDN add-on service.

All in all, this is a good WP Rocket alternative.

FlyingPress Features

Here’s what you can look forward to with FlyingPress:

• Static page caching
• Cache preloading
• Unused CSS removal and critical CSS generation
• Link preloading
• Delay script execution
• Minification for CSS & JavaScript files within the server or via FlyingCDN
• Render-blocking scripts deferral
• Database and Google font optimization
• Image lazy-load
• Resource prioritization
• Reduce layout shifts

FlyingPress Pricing

FlyingPress gives you the option of four price plans:

• Personal plan: $60/year (single license)
• Developer plan: $150/year (five licenses)
• Professional plan: $250/year (50 licenses)
• Agency plan: $500/year (500 licenses)

There is no free plan or trial available, but you do get a 14-day money-back guarantee.

5. WP Super Cache

WP Super Cache is another offering directly from the WordPress plugin store and is completely free to use. Created by Automatic, this is another plugin that has oodles of advanced tools and features.

Again, this is an excellent option if you know what you’re doing and you want precision control over your website optimization. But like W3 Total Cache, this is not a good option for novice users.

WP Super Cache Features

Again, we have a massive list of features, so here are the highlights:

• Cached files served in three ways: Expert, simple, and WP cache caching
• CDN support
• Uses mod­_rewrite to deliver static pages
• Legacy caching mode to cache pages for logged-in users
• Automatic “garbage collection”
• Cache preloading
• Rest API endpoints
• Custom caching configurations

WP Super Cache Pricing

WP Super Cache is 100% free and available from the WordPress plugin library.

6. Breeze

Breeze is brought to you by Cloudways, the managed WordPress hosting company. Therefore, you know you’re going to be getting something good. And best of all? It’s free!

This plugin is very similar to WP Rocket’s offering. However, it doesn’t perform quite as well. But you do get very similar features, and the user interface is beginner-friendly and easy to get to grips with.

Breeze Features

Breeze gives you WP Rocket-worthy features without the WP Rocket prices:

• User-friendly interface
• Varnish cache for increased page-loading speeds
• Internal and static caching
• CDN and image optimization plugin
• Database optimization
• File exclusion
• Minification and grouping of HTML, CSS, and Javascript files
• GZIP compression
• 24/7 support

Breeze Pricing

The tool is completely free and available here. Check out my review of Cloudways hosting here.

7. Nitropack

Nitropack is the most expensive cache plugin on our list. But it’s more than just a caching plugin; it’s an all-in-one performance optimization service, including caching, CDN and image optimization.

However, it is worth the expense if you want a tool that does its job to the highest standard with the best results.

You get all the standard caching tools and configurations, and if we’re comparing with WP Rocket, you’ll find that Nitropack more than has the edge. This is thanks to its content delivery network and advanced image optimization.

So it’s fast – really fast, but it’s definitely not going to be in everyone’s budget since you’ll have to pay at least $21/month to use it (compared with WP Rocket plugin which is $59/year). There is a free plan available, but it’s limited, and you just don’t get the oomph you do with the paid plans.

Nitropack Features

What do you get for the huge premium? Quite a lot:

• Advanced cache mechanism, including auto cache warm-up, cookie and session-aware caching, and smart cache invalidation
• Advanced lazy-loading
• Lossless and pre-emptive image compression
• WebP conversion
• Adaptive image sizing
• Global CDN
• Proprietory speed algorithm
• HTML, CSS, and JS minification & compression
• Critical CSS, DNS prefetching, and preloading
• Technical and expert support

Nitropack Pricing

Nitropack has four plans to choose from depending on how many sites you have:

• Business plan: $21/month or $17.50/month billed annually
• Growth plan: $51/month or $42.50/month billed annually
• Scale plan: $176/month or $146.67/month billed annually

All plans come with a 14-day money-back guarantee, and you can sign up for the limited free plan to get a feel for its features.

8. WP Performance Score Booster

Finally, a free WordPress cache plugin that is easy to grasp and use. Available directly from WordPress and developed by Dipak C. Gajjar, this plugin’s beauty is its simplicity.

But, often, the devil is in the detail, and you nearly always trade functionality for simplicity. So while WP Performance Score Booster is easy to use, it lacks the tools that you get with WP Rocket to really make your site sing.

Overall, it’s a good option to get started with, but later down the line, you’re probably going to want something a little beefier.

WP Performance Score Booster Features

Short and sweet, this is what this plugin does:

• Query string removal from CSS and JS files
• GZIP compression 
• Leverage browser caching
• Page preloading
• ETag disablement

WP Performance Score Booster Pricing

WP Performance Score Booster is free cache plugin and available from the WordPress plugin library.

9. Cache Enabler

Cache Enabler is a free and open-source caching plugin by KeyCDN. While it’s another lightweight plugin, it still manages to pack in a few decent features.

However, what is important to note here is that the plugin is focused solely on caching rather than page speeds overall. That means it only contains tools for cache and cache optimization and does not include any other features to produce faster loading times.

This is a good middle-of-the-road option if you just want better caching. More advanced users will appreciate the configuration tools, while the more novice user will enjoy the minimal setup and ease of use.

Cache Enabler Features

Here are the plugin’s key features:

• Automatic and manual cache clearing
• WP-CLI cache clearing
• Cache expiry
• WebP and mobile support
• GZIP and Brotli support
• Real-time cache size display
• Minification, including CSS and JavaScript
• Custom post-type support
• Autoptimize compatible

Cache Enabler Pricing

Cache Enabler is free to use and available in the WordPress plugin store.

10. Autoptimize

I’ll level with you. Autoptimize isn’t strictly a caching plugin. But, if we’re talking about speed optimization (because that’s what really matters, right?), then Automptimize deserves an honorable mention.

Developed by Frank Goossens, this plugin does an excellent job of file optimization, such as aggregating, minifying, and caching scripts and styles.

Why have I added it to this list if it’s not a caching tool? Well, Autoptimize is a highly compatible plugin, so you may want to consider using it in conjunction with one of the more basic and free caching tools I’ve listed above, such as WP Super Cache. 

This will give you more holistic speed optimization without having to pay for a premium tool that does everything.

Autoptimize Features

While you don’t get caching, you do get some pretty decent features for a freebie plugin:

• CSS page head injection
• Minification and aggregation of page scripts and styles
• Defer CSS and scripts
• Optimized and lazy-load images
• Google font optimization

If you do want to upgrade to the Pro version of the tool, you also get the following:

• Pro image optimization and CDN
• Auto rule creation for critical CSS
• Delay HTML and CSS
• Remove Javascript and CSS
• Page pre-upload

Autoptimize Pricing

Autoptimize is a 100% free plugin available on the WordPress plugin store. However, there is the option to upgrade to the Pro tool, which costs $11.99/month for a single site or $31.99/month for up to five sites.

11. SiteGround SuperCacher

SiteGround isn’t a plugin, it’s a premium hosting provider, but it’s also worth a mention because it has excellent page optimization tools, including its own SuperCacher tool.

We’re big fans of SiteGRound over here, mostly because it offers awesome hosting plans with decent features for an even better price. And with its managed WordPress hosting plans, you get the famed SuperCacher.

But what is this exactly? 

It’s a dynamic cache with four different types of caching included (Static Cache, Dynamic Cache, Memcached, and HHVM) and uses Memcached technology to speed up database calls, API calls, and page rendering.

And what I particularly like about this option is that you also get managed WordPress services and all the security and backup features for a very low monthly price. It’s definitely worth considering if you want more bang for your buck.

SiteGround Features

I won’t get into all of its blazing fast hosting features here because that’s not what this article is about plus, you can look them up here. Where caching is concerned, you get the following:

• NGINX Direct Delivery enabled for all sites
• Image optimization
• Dynamic PHP output
• Full-page caching for all applications
• 50% to 500% faster page speeds
• Memcached service
• Minify CSS, JS and HTML

SiteGround Pricing

SiteGround has three hosting plans available:

• Startup: From $2.99/month
• GrowBig: From $4.99/month
• GoGeek: From $7.99/month

SiteGround has a 30-day money-back guarantee on all its WordPress hosting plans. 

If you’re looking for a decent hosting provider for your WordPress site, try it out here. Read my detailed review of SiteGround here.

WP Rocket Alternative to Avoid

12. SwiftPerformance AI

Okay, so SwiftPerformance promises big things. And on the surface, its website and features look impressive. But (and it’s a fairly significant “but”) it has absolutely terrible reviews. With complaints from spamming to compatibility issues, it doesn’t look good for this plugin.

Honestly? If this were a free tool, I could forgive the adverts, but this is unacceptable for a premium paid tool.

However, in the plugin’s defense, it would seem that Swift Performace has also realized the error of its ways and has done away with “Swift Performance Lite” and rebranded under “Swift Performance AI.” And indeed, all of the bad reviews relate to the Lite version of the plugin.

So whether this new version is better accepted by its customers remains to be seen. As of yet, there aren’t any reviews out there, so this must have been a recent rebrand. In my view, it’s worth holding out to see what people say before you try it for yourself.

SwiftPerformance AI Features

Here’s what you get for your money with SwiftPerformance AI:

• Automatic core web vitals optimization
• CSS and Javascript optimization
• Image optimization (including background and third-party images)
• All third-party apps are lazy-loaded
• Smart font delivery
• AJAX fragment load
• WooCommerce integration and optimization

SwiftPerformance AI Pricing

There are four pricing options for SwiftPerformace AI:

• Single: $49.99/year (single site)
• Multi: $99.99/year (five sites)
• Developer: $249.99/year (100 sites)
• Business: $449.99/year (Unlimited sites)

All plans have a 14-day money-back guarantee. If you’re feeling brave, you can try it here.

What is Caching, Anyway?

Caching is vital for a website’s speed. Although it is deeply complex (and we won’t get into all that here), on the surface, it essentially acts as a temporary data storage location that allows someone to revisit pages faster and more easily.

For example, you are browsing a website and have clicked through to a few different pages of the same site. Each time you click on a new page, a copy of it is stored in the cache. 

Now, let’s say you wanted to return to the previous page you just looked at. In this case, the system will search the cache to see if a copy of the page exists there. If it does, you will be taken to that version of the page.

What this does is make the page loading time much faster because the data is pulled from the temporary location rather than from the web host. 

If the system has to return to the web host every time you make a request, it has to go through a series of complex PHP scripts, access the MySQL database, and jump through a few more hoops before serving up the data as readable content. 

This process, of course, takes longer than simply dipping into the cache to find the data.

And what is a caching plugin? Well, it provides the cache in which to temporarily store the data for WordPress sites.

Fun Fact: The word “cache” is derived from the French word “cacher,” which means “to hide.” And that’s what a cache does – it hides the data for later use.

If you want to dive deeper into caching, you can find a more detailed explanation here and the reasons why it’s so important for WordPress here.

What is WP Rocket?

WP Rocket is a well-known and highly popular web optimization plugin for WordPress websites. 

You go ahead and install it on your WordPress site, and it then works its magic by applying 80% of all web performance best practices. The end result? An ultra-fast web browsing experience for your site visitors.

Neat huh?

What Does the WP Rocket Caching Plugin Offer?

WP Rocket is one of the best premium WordPress caching plugins in terms of features. Here’s how it stacks up:

• Web page caching: For better SEO and site speeds
• Cache Preloading: Automatically preloads the cache after every website update you make
• Browser Caching: Frequently accessed site resources are stored in local memory
• GZIP Compression: Compresses pages in the server and decompresses in the browser
• eCommerce Optimization: Smooth caching without purchase interference
• Excellent Compatibility: WP Rocket works with most of the fastest themes

WP Rocket Pricing

WP Rocket has three pricing options available:

• Single plan: $59/year (one website)
• Plus plan: $119/year (three websites)
• Infinite plan: $299/year (unlimited websites)

A 100% money-back guarantee is offered if you cancel within 14 days of purchase.

If you like the sound of WP Rocket, you can sign up here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Summary – What Are the Best WP Rocket Alternatives in 2023?

WP Rocket ticks almost every box. It’s affordable and provides all the speed optimization tools and caching that you could ever need. Besides that, it just works.

However, I’m not averse to trying out new things because you never know what might be that little bit better. And in the case of cache plugins, there are some rather excellent alternatives that can give WP Rocket a run for its money.

WP Fastest Cache is my favorite WP Rocket alternative because it offers similar features to those of WP Rocket, but with a really sweet lifetime deal that’s hard to beat.

WP-Optimize and W3 Total Cache come in close as the runners-up, but there are still the remainders on this list that are worth considering.

Again, if investing in a premium caching plugin is within your budget, I highly recommend using WP Rocket. However, for those seeking a free alternative, there are plenty of high-quality plugins.  So, pick one and get started!

I hope you enjoyed this list of best wordpress caching plugins. Which one do you use and recommend?