We are huge fans of WP Rocket. And if you have the opportunity to utilise it, there is a good possibility that you will adore it as well.
However, this does not imply that it is suitable for every person.
If you are seeking for a free plugin to speed up your site, you will not be interested in purchasing WP Rocket since it costs $49 dollars.
Again, there are other methods that are superior than WP Rocket that you may use if you want to spend as little time as possible optimising your WordPress website.
Continue reading this article if you are unsure as to which plugin for WordPress provides the most effective caching. You won’t have any trouble finding a useful plugin to improve the speed of your website.
However, before we go any further, let’s make sure we’re on the same page.
What Is WP Rocket?
WP Rocket is a plugin for WordPress that optimises websites. Its primary goals are to enhance the caching mechanism of your website and to optimise the CSS and JavaScript files. In addition to this, it also includes the following qualities and benefits:
- Database cleanup
- CDN support
- Media optimization
- Other extensions and third-party plugins
- Critical CSS
- GZIP Compression
- WebP format for images
Your WordPress site will run much more quickly as a result of all of these, and the overall user experience will be enhanced. They are also useful in terms of optimising for search engines like Google.
On the other hand, as compared to its rivals, WP Rocket’s price tag is quite a bit more. It is possible to pay more than $49 per year to utilise the caching plugin if you want to do so. The vast majority of WP Rocket’s rivals either provide a free version of their product or are entirely free to use.
In addition, WP Rocket is missing a few of the functions that one would anticipate seeing in a plugin of this pricing range.
To be more precise, it lacks the ability to manage assets as well as choices for picture compression and adaptive scaling, both of which are essential for digital photography.
Therefore, if you are seeking for a solution that is either more affordable or more all-encompassing, we have included all of them here for your convenience.
Best Alternatives To WP Rocket
Before you look at our selections, keep in mind that proper SEO for a WordPress website will have a distinct appearance for each person.
There are certain websites that need trustworthy image enhancement features.
Others have their databases that need to be cleaned out.
And yet another group of people want powerful skills for optimising files.
Therefore, any plugin that is listed below may be valuable to you, depending on what it is that you need. That is why each and every one of them is included on our list. The following are some additional characteristics that we utilised to classify them:
Features and options
The more skills a tool have, the greater the likelihood it may assist you in resolving a specific issue with the performance of your website. But obviously, quality is just as important as quantity in this case. If a plugin addresses common site performance issues more effectively while having less functionality overall, we will give it a higher ranking on our list.
Test performance results.
There are more considerations besides the features you get. As an example, both WP Rocket and WP Optimize compress the CSS files. But their levels of skill do not compare in the same way. The plugins that are listed below have been put through our site speed testing protocol, and the results were utilised to select and rank them.
Pricing
It’s possible that Nitropack is the WordPress website performance improvement option that’s the quickest and simplest to apply. However, it also has the highest price tag. If you want to start from scratch, you should go elsewhere.
Ease of use
Caching plugins have the potential to become rather sophisticated. Therefore, the ease with which a tool may be deployed is a relatively crucial factor to consider, even though the interface, installation, or support might not be the most critical requirement.
Keeping these things in mind, let’s take a look at some of the top caching plugins for WordPress in 2022.
WP Rocket Alternatives
Nitropack
The Nitropack option is not a cost-effective decision. It is most likely one of the most costly ways for optimising WordPress pages.
However, the amount of money that you will spend on it is well justified.
Caching, file minification, and some media optimization are some of the features that are included in Nitropack, which is a premium WordPress caching plugin.
However, it has a robust image optimization toolset and content delivery network, which gives it a significant advantage over the competitors.
The combination of WP Rocket and Autoptimize was the only item that came close to competing with Nitropack.
The problem is that, despite their improvements, they are not even close to being as quick as Nitropack. The following results come from a GTMetrix test using WP Rocket and Autoptimize:
Test Site Gtmetrix After Wp Rocket + Autoptimize
The same test applies to Nitropack, and here it is:
Two times as quick.
Despite all of this, though, Nitropack is not necessarily the best option to WP Rocket for each and every user. It comes at a considerably higher price than WP Rocket does. Here’s their pricing plan, to get a sense of what Nitropack may cost you:
Therefore, you should only consider this option if you have the financial means to do so. If you are interested in learning more, make sure to check out our comparison of the Nitropack and the WP Rocket.
WP-Optimize
WP-Optimize is a plugin for WordPress that is surprisingly effective at caching.
It is capable of doing the majority of what WP Rocket is capable of, and even a little bit more. When it was first released, WP-Optimize was primarily a cache plugin, but it also had a few other minor features up its sleeve, including the following:
However, it has progressed quite a bit since that time.
WP-Optimize just introduced a file optimization tool to their collection of available tools:
In addition to this, if you want image compression, they are an excellent alternative to the plugin WP Rocket.
WP-Optimize is a dependable plugin for picture optimization, and it has a function that allows you to compress your media collection in bulk:
And you can even choose to have fresh photos automatically compressed as you submit them:
In addition to that, WP-Optimize is well-known for the database cleansing capabilities that it offers.
It offers the widest variety of possibilities for cleaning out your WordPress database, including:
This may be quite helpful, particularly for more established websites that have accumulated a significant number of articles over time.
Therefore, if you’re seeking for an option to WP Rocket that can assist you with both articles and photos, WP-Optimize can be the plugin that best meets your needs.
The Core Web Vitals test was one of the few that we were able to pass with it after all of our testing:
Therefore, it does not have the greatest performance, but it is still above average. And it comes with a few more tools that you won’t find in WP Rocket. Check out our comparison of WP Rocket vs WP Optimize to learn more.
Breeze
The WP Rocket plugin has been simplified and renamed Breeze.
It is a new tool that has been released by the same people who are responsible for Cloudflare, and it offers characteristics that are comparable to those found in WP Rocket.
Caching is something you get with Breeze.
File optimization:
And a wide variety of other choices, available on the side:
Since this is a technology developed by Cloudflare, it goes without saying that you will get excellent support when integrating with its CDN. You also receive excellent support for any content delivery network that you make use of:
And there’s even a switch on top of WP Rocket that lets you enable or disable relative path access.
In general, Breeze is a tool that performs well.
It even competes with WP Rocket in terms of how aesthetically pleasing its UI is:
But it’s terrible that Breeze can’t compete with the might of WP Rocket in terms of performance. At least, not at this time.
These are the issues that we came into when using Breeze:
It helps to increase the overall speed of the site in some way.
However, it cannot compete with the capabilities of WP Rocket. You may thus give Breeze a try if you’re seeking for an option that doesn’t cost anything. Particularly if you are using Cloudflare. However, you shouldn’t anticipate the same results that you would get with the most effective caching plugin.
FlyingPress
In the competitive field of website optimization, FlyingPress is a force to be reckoned with.
It is a comprehensive web performance plugin that offers a wide range of capabilities, including the following:
- An innovative data storage system
- Baseline code minification
- Options for more advanced CSS customisation
- Optimizing a database (or databases)
- Optimization of the Google typeface
- And a huge number of other bells and whistles, all of which are geared at assisting you in passing the Core Web Vitals.
FlyingPress is an excellent option to consider if you are looking for a robust suite that comes replete with a content delivery network (CDN) and every feature you could possibly want to optimise speed.
On the other hand, its initial cost is rather more than that of WP Rocket:
And on top of that, this is how much the CDN will set you back:
Nitropack is still the finest option available if you want to save a significant amount of time.
However, FlyingPress isn’t that much farther behind.
W3 Total Cache
It might be challenging to rate W3 Total Cache.
Now, here’s the catch.
There is no denying the sophistication and strength of W3 Total Cache.
It has a vast number of sophisticated configuration options that are absent from the WP Rocket caching plugin:
This snapshot only shows a small portion of the whole content. You have access to all of these choices for the vast majority of different kinds of caches and file categories:
On the other hand, using W3 Total Cache is a rather laborious process. In the event that you do not know what you are doing, the accumulation of all of these choices may seem quite daunting.
Not to add, the results of our testing showed that W3 Total Cache did not work very well.
You should only use W3 Total Cache if you are well-versed in technology and confident in your ability to get the most out of the software.
This is a reliable plugin for WordPress.
In such case, you should probably stay away from it and try one of the tools that is less complicated instead.
Vs if you still aren’t certain, check our comparison of WP Rocket and W3 Total Cache to find out more information.
WP Super Cache
The WP Super Cache plugin is an advanced kind of caching software.
However, in the same vein as W3 Total Cache, it is not helpful to novice users.
Take a look at the following advanced choices that are available to you via the tool:
Many of them are helpful in some way.
Caching content on mobile devices, for instance, may improve the speed of your website. However, this is not always the case. Everything depends on how responsive the theme you’re using is.
When you have years of expertise as a developer, decisions like this become much simpler to make.
If you have a lot of experience working with WordPress and are looking for an alternative, WP Super Cache can be a good option for you.
In addition to these choices, you may also establish a content delivery network (CDN) with the assistance of Super Cache. That is helpful, but when compared to all of the choices that are offered in W3 Total Cache, it pales in comparison.
Therefore, even if you are knowledgeable about technology, you should experiment with W3 before installing WP Super Cache.
WP Fastest Cache
WP Rocket and WP Fastest Cache are extremely comparable products. Both of them are premium plugins that start at $49 per month in price, and they include capabilities that are comparable to one another.
Not to add, WP Fastest Cache also offers a free edition with loads of features.
You are free to experiment with the following default settings:
Many of them are helpful in some way.
Caching content on mobile devices, for instance, may improve the speed of your website. However, this is not always the case. Everything depends on how responsive the theme you’re using is.
When you have years of expertise as a developer, decisions like this become much simpler to make.
If you have a lot of experience working with WordPress and are looking for an alternative, WP Super Cache can be a good option for you.
In addition to these choices, you may also establish a content delivery network (CDN) with the assistance of Super Cache. That is helpful, but when compared to all of the choices that are offered in W3 Total Cache, it pales in comparison.
Therefore, even if you are knowledgeable about technology, you should experiment with W3 before installing WP Super Cache.
The user interface has seen better days.
In addition, the available alternatives are not even remotely user-friendly.
In addition, many of the paid capabilities that are available in WP Fastest Cache (such as JavaScript minification or the optimization of Google fonts) are available for free in some of the other available options.
Therefore, WP Fastest Cache is an excellent option, but it is not our top choice.
The user interface has seen better days.
In addition, the available alternatives are not even remotely user-friendly.
In addition, many of the paid capabilities that are available in WP Fastest Cache (such as JavaScript minification or the optimization of Google fonts) are available for free in some of the other available options.
Therefore, WP Fastest Cache is an excellent option, but it is not our top choice.
Autoptimize
Autoptimize is an option that deviates from the norm.
This plugin is not an all-encompassing solution for improving performance. File optimization is the one item that Autoptimize performs really effectively.
It is quite skilled at the activity. In the tests that we ran, Autoptimize did EXTREMELY well, and it’s not hard to see why.
You will get optimization updates for your files that focus on the most typical problems with Core Web Vitals, such as the removal of render-blocking resources:
Alternately, improving the distribution of Google Fonts:
If you are having trouble loading CSS, JavaScript, or HTML, then Autoptimize is an excellent alternative to WP Rocket that you should consider using.
However, due to the fact that it is not a cache plugin in the traditional sense, it is ranked significantly lower on our ranking.
The majority of the other items on our list include additional capabilities in addition to just being able to optimise files. These features include caching, the ability to optimise video, and even the capability to interact with significant third-party applications.
Because of this, we strongly suggest that you make use of Autoptimize, but we do not see it as a replacement.
Try using both of them at the same time in case the WP Rocket caching plugin doesn’t work properly.
In most cases, something like this would render your website unusable; but, in this instance, the two plugins have quite excellent synergy with each other. If you turn on Autoptimize, WP Rocket will immediately stop making the following modifications to your site:
In the event that you are interested in learning more, be sure to check out our comparison of WP Rocket and Autoptimize.
Conclusion: What Caching Plugin Should I Replace WP Rocket With?
There is currently no clear-cut option available to replace WP Rocket.
Your time and money constraints will probably play a role in the decision you choose.
If you don’t mind spending a little more money, Nitropack is the finest option to WP Rocket.
Because it takes care of everything by itself, setting it up won’t take up too much of your time and won’t need a lot of effort on your part. To learn more, have a look at our review of the Nitropack.
You will need some time to get everything set up if you want to start your business using the bootstrapping method.
In such a scenario, we advise going with WP-Optimize.
The remaining plugins on this list each serve a specific purpose. If you’re looking for a cheaper alternative to WP Rocket, though, your best bet is probably going to be WP-Optimize.
