WP Rocket Review & Tutorial 2024 The high-performance cache plugin for WordPress
The plugin
In this study, we investigate its real-life performance and whether the annual fee is worth it or not.
Let's go..
Before WP Rocket:
As you can see, we have reduced the loading time by nearly 2 seconds, which equates to a 54% improvement.
In addition, the site now generates 21 fewer HTTP requests than before.
There has been a slight increase in the YSlow score, but we could give it a 10% boost by installing Autoptimize at the same time
We could also increase the PageSpeed score by at least 10% by optimizing the images (the biggest flaw) with ShortPixel.
What is WP Rocket?
WP Rocket
Since then, it has gained popularity to become one of the most popular caching tools among WordPress users.
What is interesting is that although there are many free caching plugins available, several hundred thousand websites use WP Rocket instead
And the reason is that WP Rocket combines the features of several different plugins into one tool.
It is much more than that
As an expert SEO, translate this website content into `English`. the text : Comment nous avons mis en place WP Rocket, notre environnement de test était le suivant :. the translated text: How we set up WP Rocket, our testing environment was as follows:
The first thing to know is that WP Rocket must be installed manually after purchase - it is not available in the WP plugins repository.
But in order to do this, simply download the ZIP file, go to
The final step is to activate it.
What happens next is WP Rocket's main selling point: it automatically configures itself on your site for optimal performance.
It's a nice sales pitch, but it's not entirely true either.
The results that we published at the beginning of this study were only possible after spending a few minutes refining the WP Rocket.
Do not treat it as a caching plugin, because it is not.
The WP Rocket dashboard
There are actually only 4 options on this screen that you need to worry about... which are displayed along the right side of the page
Clear cache
Précharger le cache – met en cache toutes les pages/postes de votre site afin qu’elles puissent être servies plus rapidement
Purger OPCache – Efface tout code PHP stocké dans la mémoire partagée en PHP 5.5 ou supérieur
Régénérer les CSS critiques – utile si vous avez apporté des modifications importantes à vos fichiers CSS
Note:
Cache
This is where you can adjust the various cache memory settings based on the type of website you manage and its user profile, that is, desktop or mobile.
Mobile cache
The "Enable cache for mobile devices" function is activated by default when you activate the plugin, but you will need to manually enable the "Separate cache for mobile devices" function.
User cache
This system is suitable for membership sites or sites where users need to log in to view information. It is generally not necessary to use this function if you have a public-facing website.
Cache lifespan
The set time before your global cache is automatically cleared, which will be useful for sites that publish content daily
File Optimization
This section of WP Rocket allows you to manage how HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other files are optimized.
Or, in plain terms, this is where you can reduce the number of HTTP requests that your site makes while potentially decreasing the loading times of your pages.
What we love about this feature is that it does much of the same work as the WP-Optimize plugin, giving you the opportunity to reduce the number of plugins you are using.
But it is worth testing how all-in-one plugins compare to separate plugins to see how they affect the overall performance of the site.
Basic Settings
The only parameter enabled by default is "Combine Google Fonts files" because it will not have a real impact on the functioning of your site, meaning that missing fonts will be replaced by default fonts.
From there, you can choose to do it
Minify HTML - this removes all empty spaces in your HTML files, reducing their size
Combiner les fichiers Google Fonts – Réduire le nombre d’appels HTTP vers l’API Google Fonts
Supprime les chaînes de requête des ressources statiques – supprime la chaîne de requête de version des noms de fichiers
The results of our tests are based on the activation of all the above functions.
CSS Files
None of these options are enabled by default because modifying your CSS files could potentially break your site
But based on past experience, we have not yet seen this happen with WP Rocket or any other half-decent caching/optimization plugin.
Minimize CSS files
Combine CSS files
Optimize the delivery of CSS
Exclude CSS files
JavaScript Files
The first two options allow you to minify JavaScript files in the same way as HTML and CSS files.
You can then choose to exclude specific JS files or "defer JavaScript loading".
It is important to be able to "defer loading JavaScript", especially because most plugins come with some kind of JS file attached to their functionality.
Each of these scripts can bloat your site's code, forcing your browser to wait for them to load synchronously.
This means that users are sitting in front of a blank screen while their browser struggles to load multiple JS files, all of which require the same attention.
The option "Load JavaScript asynchronously" allows you to avoid this problem by delaying the start of rendering your site in the browser.
Media
WP Rocket also has a standard image optimization feature.
LazyLoad
The first optimization is "LazyLoad", which means that your site only loads images when you scroll the page.
This gives the impression that your page is loading faster, when all that is happening is that the images are loaded "on demand".
But it is very practical to be able to lazily load iFrames and videos, as rendering all this external data can kill loading times of your pages and bandwidth quotas with your hosting provider.
Note:
Emojis and Embeds
These functions allow you to disable emojis on your site, and you can also prevent people from embedding unwanted content in your messages or pages.
Perfmatters is the only other plugin that we have used (and trust) that allows you to disable emojis, so it's interesting to see that WP Rocket also has this feature.
By the way, we are not saying that you can replace the Perfmatters plugin with WP Rocket, but Perfmatters is well worth its price.
Preload
This section covers both DNS pre-fetching queries and preloading your entire site into the cache:
With most other caching plugins, your page is only added to the cache when it is accessed.
This means that the initial page request will be slow, but all subsequent requests will be faster.
However, as your website preloading is cached in advance, users should benefit from faster page loading times.
The preload function starts at the home page and spreads throughout your site, unless you ask it to use a site map instead.
A word of caution is that "preloading the cache" of a website with hundreds/thousands of pages could cause a server spike, temporarily slowing down your entire site.
Preload DNS requests
Every time your website accesses a web resource (API, etc.) of any kind, a DNS request is generated.
It takes time for the DNS server to be contacted, to resolve your request, and then to redirect you to the correct URL.
You can shorten this whole process by specifying in advance the servers you want to resolve
The best way to imagine this is to look for a phone number in a directory.
With prefetch, you would already know exactly which page, line, and column the phone number is located under.
Without pre-search, you should manually check the entire directory page until you find the number you need.
Advanced rules
There are certain elements of your website that you never want to include in your cache.
This includes, for example, login URLs, shopping cart and payment pages of an e-commerce store, and cookies.
The "Advanced Rules" tab of WP Rocket allows you to specify the URLs that you want to exclude from the cache
Or do the same thing for cookies
You can also choose to prevent "user agents" from viewing cached pages. You can prevent Googlebot or a web browser agent from seeing cached pages
You also have the option to clear the cache of specific pages or a series of pages when you update a post or a page
You can also cache specific URLs with query strings if you wish, although this is generally the domain of developers or serious e-commerce platforms.
Most WordPress users will never need to touch the "Advanced Rules" section.
Database
The database cleaning function perfectly illustrates why WP Rocket is not just a simple caching plugin.
Post-war cleaning
In most other circumstances, you will need to use a plugin like WP-Optimize to clean up your WordPress database.
But now, you can do pretty much all of that from WP Rocket.
As you can see in the screenshot above, the "message cleaning" function allows you to get rid of revisions and drafts that you no longer need.
But you can also permanently delete spam comments and all comments that you have already sent to the trash.
It also allows you to remove "transients", which are usually leftover settings from plugins that you haven't used in a long time
Finally, you have the option to either fully optimize your WordPress database or schedule future clean-ups
The "Database" function of WP Rocket does pretty much everything that WP-Optimize does for the average user, and can potentially replace it in your plugin library.
Content Delivery Network
You are already using a CDN and wondering if you can integrate it with WP Rocket?
Yes, you can.
Note: Cloudflare and Sucuri have dedicated add-ons to integrate them with WP Rocket.
Heartbeat
The WordPress Heartbeat API is not a bad idea as it allows you to synchronize all the elements of your WordPress site.
The problem is that all this real-time data sharing is devouring server resources.
It is therefore preferable to control the Heartbeat API when possible, and this is what WP Rocket allows
But it also allows you to reduce the Heartbeat activity or disable it for the backend, post editor, or frontend of the site
Add-ons
WP Rocket also offers a number of additional modules to make your site even more efficient.
They did not try to provide extensions for every service, but only for those that people use most often.
Google Analytics is a typical example of this.
WP Rocket allows you to host your GA scripts locally, which reduces response times and a large number of external HTTP requests.
But you also get supplements for:
Facebook Pixel
Vernis
Eclat des nuages
Succuri
The only one of the above elements that we tested during the review was the Cloudflare add-on module.
Once you have linked it to your Cloudflare account, you can choose the following options:
Development mode - temporarily take your site offline
Paramètres optimaux – configurer automatiquement Cloudflare pour qu’il fonctionne en tandem avec WP Rocket
Protocole relatif – n’activez cette option que si vous utilisez le protocole SSL Cloudflare, ce qui n’est pas le cas de notre site de test
The "Clear All Cloudflare Cache Files" function has allowed us to save a lot of time by avoiding back and forth to the web-based Cloudflare dashboard to purge it again during testing.
Tools
And finally, you have a set of tools to import and export existing settings for WP Rocket.
But one tool that deserves a special mention is the "Rollback" feature.
We rarely see this in plugins and we would like more developers to follow the example of the WP Rocket team.
Alternative options to WP Rocket
So, is WP Rocket the best caching plugin for WordPress, or are there other plugins that you could use to achieve the same goals?
The honest answer is "yes".
Let's examine the most popular...
W3 Cache total
With 1 million active installations, W3 Total Cache has many loyal users and it does a pretty good job at improving page loading times.
But the interface is a bit "dense" - it is not very intuitive, unless you know exactly what you are doing.
Furthermore, to get the full power of the plugin, you need to upgrade to the paid option, which is $99 per year.
WP Super Cache
This plugin has a functionality so logical that it surpasses understanding that other caching plugins do not use it - you can choose between "easy" and "advanced" caching.
In terms of improving website performance, WP Super Cache is one second behind W3 Total Cache in terms of improving the overall page loading time.
The other problem is that it is only a caching plugin - it has no other functionality.
The fastest cache for WP
Although it does not receive as much attention as the previous plugins, WP Fastest Cache is a more than decent caching tool to speed up your WordPress site.
It has a full range of optimizations that you can activate by simply checking a box. We also like the little touches like "Clear cache when publishing a post or page" and there is a dedicated option to enable Gzip compression for your site.
The fastest cache on WP is also linked to the total cache of W3 in terms of positive impact on page speed scores.
Autoptimiser
The main function of Autoptimize is to declutter your HTML, CSS, and JS files. This minification/aggregation will have an impact on the speed of the pages.
But it does not have a dedicated caching function.
But you can definitely use Autoptimize in conjunction with a caching plugin and a database optimization plugin to achieve results comparable to those of WP Rocket.
Conclusion
And this brings us to the end of our review of WP Rocket.
This plugin offers a hands-free approach to caching websites and optimizing databases.
Technology intellectuals will likely stick to using a number of plugins to cache, optimize, and fine-tune their WP installation.
That being said, WP Rocket is a caching and performance optimization plugin that is easy to use, but it costs 49 dollars per year for one site.
Just be prepared to spend time adjusting its settings to get the most out of this plugin.
You can download your copy of WP Rocket here.