How to Clear WordPress Cache On Your Site in 2023

Website performance depends on many aspects of your site: design, the platform being used, and how you optimize its various elements. Site caching is one of the most crucial ways to improve site performance, and for a good reason. Almost all WordPress sites have caching enabled to store resources efficiently and speed up the site.

Sometimes, you may want to clear this cache. We’ll show you exactly that, teaching you how to clear WordPress cache using various methods.

Kinsta users have an advantage when it comes to caching as we handle all caching at the server-level, which includes full-page and object caching. This means that Kinsta users don’t have to clear the WordPress cache on their own. There’s an option for a manual cache, but there’s no need for third-party caching plugins or automated caching configurations—it’s already set up for you. The full-page cache is set to one hour by default, but Kinsta can customize that for you if needed.

But what if you don’t use Kinsta for some of your websites? Don’t worry, because various plugins offer caching tools to automate the process and ensure your site runs at top speeds.

In this article, we’ll talk about the basics of caching, explain how to clear WordPress cache through the MyKinsta dashboard, and with some of the most popular WordPress caching plugins.

Prefer to watch the video version?

What is Caching?

Simply put, caching minimizes the amount of work required to produce a webpage for viewing.

WordPress cache achieves this more efficient environment by storing static versions of your webpages. These copies are held in the WordPress or website cache until the cache expires, content is changed, or the cache receives an order to purge.

Think of the cache as a storage area for several snapshots of your website’s history. It delivers these snapshots to the end-user instead of forcing the server to compile and deliver all site files every time they want to see a webpage.

An Example of What Happens When a Webpage Loads Without Caching:

1. Someone comes to your website via a search engine or outside source like social media. They land on one of your webpages, such as the homepage or a product page.
2. An HTTPS request is put into effect, telling your web server to compile all files to deliver that webpage. Each element (image, script, and file) that goes into that page takes time for the server to compile.
3. After all site files and elements are requested and loaded, the user sees the entire webpage.

Again, it depends on the file sizes and the number of files on that page, but it’s a lot of work for your server to piece together the right components of a webpage every time someone wants to view it.

An Example of What Happens When a Webpage Loads with Caching in Place:

1. Someone comes to your website and ends up on an individual webpage.
2. An HTTPS request gets sent to your server to compile files and deliver the webpage in full form.
3. Caching is enabled, so the web server sees no changes since the last visitor tried to access the site. It reaches for a static version of the site in its cache storage, removing the server’s need to compile and deliver all website files from scratch.

All visitors see a cached version of your webpage until a content change is made to the page. The cache also restarts when the cache storage is automatically or manually cleared.

A way to visualize caching is by imagining that you’re a painter selling your artwork at a fair. Potential customers come to you and love one of your pieces. However, painting that same landscape over-and-over takes lots of your own time, and people may not be willing to wait around. Therefore, you might make a digital copy of the original painting and print them instead. This way, you get more sales, and your customers don’t have to stick around for a long creation process.

Caching works similarly, copying what’s already there so that the server (the painter in this example) doesn’t have to work so hard, and the users (the painter’s customers) get what they came for in a shorter period of time.

Why Should You Clear Your WordPress Cache?

You may wonder, why would I want to clear the cache? After all, the cache contains static copies of my webpages, allowing for a faster, more optimized browsing experience.

However, your website would be pretty boring if it rarely changed.

Most businesses feed their website with new, engaging content, whether that’s a fresh collection of product photos every quarter or a blog post on a weekly or daily basis. The new content ensures that people have a reason to come back to your website. Not to mention, your business is bound to make design changes for sale announcements, new products, and other things like if you needed to add a new button.

Unfortunately, those older cache files don’t include the modifications. Therefore, an automated or manual cache purge comes in handy to present the additional information. After you clear WordPress cache files, the process starts all over, where the cache takes static snapshots of what’s now on your website.

Overall, many changes to your website warrant the clearing of a cache. Here’s a list of instances to clear WordPress cache storage:

• When changes to your database occur.
• If you update, delete, or add themes or plugins.
• After adding new pages or posts.
• If you adjust or add to previously created pages or posts.
• When making design tweaks. This is common if the website needs new branding or runs an A/B test to discover some buttons aren’t converting.
• For when you add new products to your online store.

The reasons to clear WordPress cache files go on and on, but the idea is to ensure that you maintain a balancing act between your cache and the new content.

Yes, it’s desirable to speed up your site by serving up cached pages. However, the cache’s occasional clearing allows you to present fresh information while also beginning the caching process all over again.

How To Clear WordPress Cache in MyKinsta

Kinsta users are in luck because of the included caching features. That means no caching plugins are required, and you rarely have to think about manually clearing the cache.

Having said that, you still need to know how Kinsta caching works, just in case you want to clear the cache yourself or if you’d like to change the types or timing of that caching.

As a quick guide, please check out our post on how Kinsta handles caching for its users.

In general, Kinsta uses four forms of caching, all of which are completed on the software and server level. What’s more, is that these four caching types are done automatically:

• Bytecode cache: A method of caching that stores compiled PHP code. The PHP code compiling and conversion process gets almost entirely skipped with caching, leading to faster loading times.
• Object cache: Caching for objects in your database, eliminating the need to query the database every time a piece of data is needed for a webpage.
• Page cache: A version of caching that stores HTML content. It’s one of the main forms of caching, seeing as how every webpage has a myriad of HTML and PHP files required to produce the desired content.
• CDN cache:  A bonus type of caching that places site files on a CDN (content delivery network.) A CDN functions as a collection of machines spread throughout the world. Geographical proximity to a server actually affects how quickly your browser renders website elements, so it’s a good idea to have a CDN with multiple servers that get closer to all end-users.

Follow these Steps to Clear WordPress Cache on Kinsta

Kinsta users can clear the WordPress cache through MyKinsta or the WordPress dashboard. Both take only one or two steps, and you can even adjust the frequency in which the cache gets cleared.

To begin, we’ll show how the cache clearing is done in MyKinsta.

Open MyKinsta, and click on the Sites button.

Locate the site for which you’d like to clear WordPress cache files.

For some people, you may only see one site. Other users have a list of sites.

Click on the Tools tab.

This page reveals a collection of tools built into MyKinsta, such as Site Cache, Restart PHP, and WordPress Debugging.

Click on the Clear Cache button.

This is the easiest way to instantly and manually clear WordPress cache files. There’s no extra configuration or anything to type in.

You may see a momentary message that tells you the cache is being cleared. It also explains that it disables all tools on that page until the caching process is over.

The message usually only lasts for a few seconds.

It’s easy to miss, but a confirmation message slides onto the screen for a few moments to show that the cache has, in fact, cleared.

It explains that a full page cache has been deleted on whichever site you chose from before. You don’t need to click this button or complete any other tasks. The message will go away since the cache is purged.

The tools on the page are then reactivated, and you’re able to go on with your business as usual in MyKinsta.

Changing the Cache Expiration in MyKinsta

Another element of caching involves how often that cache storage expires. A cache expiration shows Kinsta that it should automatically clear the cache.

You may decide to expire and automatically clear the cache on a more frequent basis, or maybe you’re fine with setting a weekly cache expiration.

Note: Longer cache times make for improved site performance. Cached pages speed up your website, so when it gets cleared, the server must once again compile the right site files to present a webpage. However, serving up cached pages could render old content.

Ensure the caching expiration time you set is suitable for your site or business. A website that doesn’t change its content can often stick with the 7-Day caching expiration. A site with design edits made every day may opt for something like an hourly or daily cache expiration. Also, all pages and posts get individually cached when an edit is made to them. There’s no reason for you to clear your cache when you edit a blog post.

Set your cache expiration by deciding on the following automated time frames:

• 1 hour
• 2 hours
• 4 hours
• 8 hours
• 24 hours
• 7 days

Keep in mind that this is the automated cache clearing section, so it runs in the background, usually without you knowing. You can always manually clear WordPress cache files with the tutorial covered before.

After selecting the best cache expiration, click the Change Expiration button.

As with all cache clearings, a confirmation message appears in the MyKinsta dashboard to show that the cache expiration updated to a new timeframe.

You’re now free to work elsewhere on your website, knowing that the automated cache clearing process runs at the right times.

Enable Kinsta CDN Caching

As mentioned, Kinsta utilizes a form of caching called CDN (content delivery network) caching. This stores versions of your webpages on other servers located elsewhere. For instance, the Kinsta CDN offers 35 server locations around the globe.

If the cached site content is stored on a server in Europe, it allows for faster loading times to users who access the website from a country in Europe. The user’s proximity to the server matters for load times, and that’s why a CDN is so important to boost performance.

Check out this guide for more information on how the Kinsta CDN stacks up with Cloudflare (another popular CDN option).

To activate the Kinsta CDN (which includes CDN caching), go to Sites > Kinsta CDN in the MyKinsta dashboard.

Select the Enable Kinsta CDN button.

A pop-up appears explaining that you shouldn’t use a third-party CDN (like Cloudflare) when running Kinsta CDN; it could cause conflicts. The warning also outlines that the Kinsta CDN may not provide compatibility with some custom setups and multisite configurations.

Click on the Enable CDN button to proceed.

The MyKinsta dashboard shows a message that the Kinsta CDN zone has been added to the website.

Nothing more is usually required of the website owner.

The process of activating the CDN occasionally takes up to 15 minutes to complete.

Going to the Kinsta CDN page during the setup may show that it’s not ready yet. However, the CDN domain should appear, which is used for a variety of other reasons.

Try refreshing your dashboard if the Kinsta CDN page doesn’t load after 15 minutes.

Once the configuration finishes, you’ll see a label that the Kinsta CDN is Enabled, along with a purple switch turned to On.

This page includes the DNS Zone Details, an option to Clear CDN Cache, and an area to Remove Kinsta CDN.

To clear WordPress cache files on your CDN, simply come back to this page at any time and push the Clear CDN Cache button.

The only extra step is to confirm that you’d like to continue with the clearing of the cache. This warning explains that the cache clearing could take a few minutes.

Select the Clear CDN Cache button.

After a few moments, a notification appears in the MyKinsta dashboard that the Kinsta CDN Cache is cleared from the site you chose.

How To Clear Kinsta Cache from the WordPress Dashboard

It only takes a few steps to clear WordPress cache storage in MyKinsta. However, many Kinsta/WordPress users likely spend more time in the WordPress dashboard compared to MyKinsta.

As a result, Kinsta offers a few options to clear the cache directly from the area you work most frequently, the WordPress dashboard.

Two methods are available for clearing the cache inside of WordPress.

The first and simplest method shows on just about every page on the WordPress dashboard. That’s because it’s part of the top dashboard menu.

To clear the cache from the dashboard with the click of a button, locate the Clear Cache button.

That’s all there is to it.

Within seconds, a success message appears to show that the Cache Cleared Successfully.

This rarely cuts into any of your work time. If it takes longer than usual, you can still move around your dashboard as the cache clearing continues.

The second cache clearing method sits on the side menu in the WordPress dashboard.

It’s labeled Kinsta Cache.

Select that button.

Although the Kinsta Cache page provides the same functionality as the quick button up top, the page also lists a few other options to consider for more specific cache clearing.

The first option to think about is the basic cache clearing solution.

A big purple button shows on the top right side of the dashboard page. It reads Clear Cache.

Just like the other button, clicking the Clear Cache on this page immediately purges the entire site’s cache, including page and object caches.

The button turns green and hints that the cache is cleared when the procedure is done.

A slightly more advanced tool to think about is listed under the section titled Custom URLs To Purge.

This allows you to add a custom URL from your website and purge the cache from that page only when updated.

To do so, type in a path from your website after the full URL from your domain. For instance, you may type in “Shop” if that’s one of the pages on your WordPress site.

Click here to learn more about properly adding custom caching URLs, including adding single and group path custom URLs.

Click on the Add URL button to add a custom URL to the list for automated purging.

You can include as many custom URLs to that list. The major difference between this and the manual or automated site cache clearing is that you’re focusing on one URL—ensuring that it clears no matter where the site update occurs. This may come in handy if you have a significant page that doesn’t necessarily get updated on its own but pulls content from a page that does receive the updates.

How To Clear WordPress Cache Using the Most Popular Plugins

There are plenty of WordPress caching plugins you could choose from and, usually, Kinsta customers won’t need one as we take care of caching for them.

Still, because we’d like to provide actionable tips to WordPress users regardless of their hosting solution, we’ll outline the process involved with connecting these popular caching plugins and show you how to clear the cache with each one.

Clear WordPress Cache With WP Rocket

WP Rocket, a premium, high-quality caching plugin, offers advanced and easy-to-use tools for setting up automated WordPress caching, along with a quick Manual button to clear the WordPress cache from any page on your WordPress dashboard. We recommend it as one of the top options if you have any websites not running on Kinsta.

Besides standard site caching, WP Rocket provides database cleanup tools, file optimization, and a CDN integration, just to name a few of the features. Overall, it’s an all-in-one optimization plugin that could very well replace and consolidate many other plugins you have on your website.

To clear the WordPress cache with WP Rocket, purchase and install the plugin on your WordPress website. The only way to get WP Rocket is through the primary sales website (it’s not offered in the WordPress Plugin Library).

After the plugin is installed and activated, you have several options to manually and automatically clear the cache.

The first and the fastest option is to locate the WP Rocket tab in the upper part of the WordPress dashboard header menu. Clicking on that tab generates a dropdown list with links to the Settings, Preload Cache area, Documentation, FAQ, and Support.

For the fastest cache clearing, simply click on the Clear Cache item.

It doesn’t matter which page you’re on in the WordPress dashboard, making this button rather convenient for those who want to clear the cache and get back to work. It also doesn’t take too long to clear the WordPress cache in WP Rocket.

It depends on your website’s size and cache in general, but you shouldn’t have to wait more than a few seconds to see the confirmation message. Besides, you may see a flash of the screen during the process.

Note: We highly recommend saving your current work before clearing the WordPress cache. There isn’t much chance of losing anything while clearing the cache, but many of these plugins will refresh the page after it clears.

The manual cache button eventually shares a message in the upper part of the dashboard screen. It should tell you it has cleared the cache and provide the date and time the process took place.

Manage Settings in WP Rocket and Configure Automated WordPress Caching and Clearing

The quick Clear Cache button is handy, but there’s a good chance you don’t want to manually clear the cache all the time, especially if you need to see changes in your content after updating a page or post. It would make more sense to have the cache cleared after those pages and posts are modified.

Therefore, we recommend going to WP Rocket > Settings from the WP Rocket button at the top of the screen.

As an alternative, go to the sidebar menu in WordPress and choose Settings > WP Rocket. Both methods lead you to the same page.

The WP Rocket control panel offers a wide range of features, and it’s all consolidated into this one area. For instance, you can optimize your files and media while also configuring your CDN to speed up your website.

For now, all we want to do is clear the cache.

You’ll notice yet another manual Clear Cache button on this page. It’s towards the right side of the dashboard section. Again, you can click on this Clear Cache button to complete the same caching process we went through before.

There’s also a button to Preload Cache, which essentially loads your cache backup with saved site data. This is a wonderful feature for giving your cache the data it needs to do its job. After all, the whole point of caching is to speed up the delivery of your website. Clearing the cache has its uses, but it does eliminate the cache’s actual purpose in the first place. Not many plugins offer to preload the cache after they have cleared it.

The Cache tab in the WP Rocket plugin reveals several options for automating the cache clearing and enabling caching in certain situations.

For example, you can activate the Enable Cache For Mobile Devices features to ensure that all mobile versions of the website are also creating a cache and have the option to clear that cache later on.

The User Cache is another option to consider.

Scroll down to the Cache Lifespan section to specify how many hours you’d like to pass before it clears the entire global cache.

Essentially, this is the primary automated cache clearing functionality provided by WP Rocket. So, you may want to have the entire site cache clear every 10 hours. It’s possible to speed this timing up or slow it down to something like seven or 30 days.

As always, make sure you click on the Save Changes button before leaving the page.

The left-side menu in the WP Rocket plugin offers several caching and optimization tools.

We recommend walking through every one of them to ensure your site runs at its peak performance. For instance, you might need to optimize your media items to look into file optimization.

One that relates directly to the WordPress cache is the Preload tab. Click on that to proceed.

It’s optional, but we suggest activating preloading and enabling link preloading. We talked about preloading before, but essentially it’s a way to generate new files in your cache right after it clears a cache. In the end, the preloading speeds up the delivery of your site’s files to the users.

It’s also not a bad idea to go to the Advanced Rules tab in WP Rocket.

Here, you’ll be able to adjust settings and add specific rules and exceptions to your cache clearing.

An example would be pasting in specific URLs from your website to ensure that they never get cached. Login pages, user pages, and other pages with less content often do not need caching since they change little and probably don’t get frequented by the public as much as other pages or posts.

Finally, there’s a section in WP rocket to Always Purge URLs. This area asks you to type or paste in some of your website URLs that should be purged regularly, or more specifically when they get updated.

These are the pages and posts that you update regularly and need to know that the content is showing up on your website’s frontend. Your homepage, for example, probably gets updated from time to time. Not clearing the cache after an update could mean that your users cannot see the new banner that talks about a promotion. We don’t want that to happen.

We can say the same for blog posts.

Overall, plenty of other WordPress caching plugins, but WP Rocket has our vote for the most effective and user-friendly. When working outside of the realm of Kinsta hosting, WP Rocket turns caching into a simple task and ensures that you really don’t have to think about it much into the future.

Clear WordPress Cache With Cache Enabler (Not Allowed at Kinsta)

The Cache Enabler plugin by KeyCDN offers a fast and efficient caching solution, and you don’t have to pay anything to use the basic features.

Once the plugin is installed, the caching process only takes one click.

Simply locate the Clear Site Cache button in the top part of the WordPress dashboard.

 

That’s it! You aren’t even sent to a new page to configure the cache clearing. The handy button does a quick clear-out and refreshes the page so you can get back to business.

An alternative, more advanced way to clear the cache in the Cache Enabler plugin is by clicking on Settings > Cache Enabler in the WordPress dashboard.

This page shows a larger list of caching behaviors and settings for you to consider. For instance, you may want to clear the site cache if any post type has been published or when a plugin has been activated or deactivated.

These are all entirely optional, making for a more automated caching process.

You can even clear the cache right from that page when you click on the Save Changes button.

Clear WordPress Cache with Comet Cache

The Comet Cache plugin includes both free and paid versions, and it features caching for everything from pages and posts to RSS feeds and categories.

To clear the cache in Comet Cache, locate and click on the Comet Cache tab towards the bottom of the WordPress dashboard menu.

With many of these plugins, there’s a quick Clear button to clear the cache without configuring any other settings instantly.

For this plugin, you must actually go to the Comet Cache settings page.

Click the Clear button.

A message will appear to show that your cache clearing was successful.

To ensure that caching occurs regularly in the future, scroll down on the Settings page and check the Yes, enable Comet Cache option.

Various other automated settings are available on this page, from automatic cache clearing to cache expiration times.

Feel free to click on any of those sections before saving your Comet Cache settings. This way, you won’t have to think about more specific caching opportunities in the future. But keep in mind that simply turning on Comet Cache is the most important part.

Click the Save All Changes button to finish up and start running Comet Cache.

Clear WordPress Cache with W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache has popularity on its side, seeing how it’s one of the most downloadable caching plugins on the market. It’s a free plugin, and it offers features for dedicated servers, mobile environments, and CDNs.

To begin clearing the cache with W3 Total Cache, find the Performance tab at the WordPress dashboard’s top. Scrolling your mouse over the Performance menu item reveals a drop-down menu for going to other plugin pages or clearing the cache directly from your dashboard location.

Click the Purge All Caches button to clear all caches.

After that, a message shows up to tell you that the caches have, in fact, been successfully emptied.

You also have the option to go to the General Settings area.

There’s an Empty All Caches button that does the same thing as the previous button. It’s simply located in a different place.

The majority of automated caching settings for W3 Total Cache live under the WordPress dashboard menu’s Performance tab.

For instance, there’s an option for General Settings, Page Cache, and Minify, along with many others.

These are all great for optimizing your website, but the general idea is to ensure that the standard page cache feature is active.

You can activate regular page caching on the General Settings page.

Once on that page, mark the box for Enable Page Cache.

There are also various other settings you can configure, but that’s the most important one. For example, we like the idea of minifying your media elements to ensure they get optimized and don’t slow down your website.

Clear the WordPress Cache with WP Super Cache

WP Super Cache by Automattic boasts a clean interface and an incredible list of features, making it a viable solution for both WordPress beginners and advanced users who want caching on their websites.

It’s rather simple to clear your website cache with WP Super Cache.

After the plugin is activated, a Delete Cache button shows up on the WordPress dashboard’s top menu.

Click this button.

Unlike other caching plugins, the cache isn’t cleared with that one step.

Instead, it sends you to the Cache Settings page.

There, you must click on the Delete Cache button to complete the process.

To dive into the robust set of features from WP Super Cache, go to Settings > WP Super Cache.

You can turn on automated caching by marking the option called Caching On.

Be sure to click the Update Status button to save the changes.

Other than that, every other element of WP Super Cache is optional. There’s a Simple caching method and an Expert one. You can also go through the plugin settings to complete tasks like caching for all visitors, CDN configuration, and content caching.

Clear WordPress Cache with WP Fastest Cache (Not Allowed at Kinsta)

WP Fastest Cache includes both free and premium versions. It offers fast methods for clearing WordPress cache files and completing other unique functions like preloading the cache or excluding certain pages and user-agents from the cache.

The plugin has CDN and SSL support, and you’re able to activate cache timeouts for specific pages and automatically delete cache files for pages and posts when they get updated. The premium versions launch your cache clearing abilities into an enhanced level, with features for minifying, compressing, and combining CSS.

Seeing as how WP Fastest Cache is most commonly used as a free plugin, we’ll cover how to clear WordPress cache files in that version. To start, install and activate the WP Fastest Cache plugin.

Two methods are available for clearing the cache in WP Fastest Cache, but we’ll begin setting up the automated cache clearing. That way, you’re able to run the cache purge in the background without having to go in and do it manually every time.

Find the WP Fastest Cache button in the WordPress dashboard. This appears after activating the plugin on your site.

This leads you to the primary plugin page for adjusting options and configuring everything from general Settings to Image Optimization.

Start by checking off the Enable Cache System box. This is the most important box since it turns on the basic functionality of clearing the cache regularly.

Many other settings come with the plugin, so feel free to scroll through them all and decide on the ones you want to activate.

For instance, it’s not a bad idea to clear cache files when you create a new post or update a post. You also might want to turn on minification for your HTML and CSS, both of which help out with performance enhancements.

Overall, you can’t really go wrong by marking all boxes on this page. However, we recommend going one by one to ensure that one of the optimization features doesn’t conflict with another plugin or mess with your site’s coding.

We also suggest considering the Preload setting since it allows you to cache the entire site automatically. That’s not always a desirable option but could occasionally be considered an overarching feature that handles much of the caching without having to get too technical with your settings.

Be sure to click on the Submit button once you’re done with the Settings area. This activates all automated caching and begins optimizing your site with little work on your end.

To manually clear the cache with WP Fastest Cache, click on the Delete Cache tab in the WP Fastest Cache Options page.

Choose one of the two buttons: Clear All Cache or Delete Cache, and Minified CSS/JS.

The Clear All Cache button handles the entire website, targeting all cache files, particularly the object and page cache.

The Delete Cache and Minified CSS/JS buttons control the cache for CSS and Javascript files. Essentially, you should click this button if you, or your developer, edits a CSS or JS file. It’s essential if you’re minifying those files. Regardless, the changes implemented in the new CSS or JS files most likely won’t appear unless you’ve cleared the appropriate cache.

WP Fastest Cache also helps you add timeout rules, much like MyKinsta has expiration rules based on periods of time.

Click the Add New Rule button to open a pop-up window that asks for how often you’d like to timeout your cache. Remember, a cache timeout means that the cache gets cleared.

Therefore, you’re telling WP Fastest Cache that you’d like to clear the homepage, or any other page’s cache every hour, day, or week.

Click on the Save button to store your rules in the dashboard and know that the caching happens at your desired intervals.

WP Fastest Cache provides an impressive collection of caching and purging tools, along with complementary tools for linking to a CDN, optimizing images, and excluding pages from the cache purge.

Access all of these features in the same window. Simply click on one of the tabs to see all features and settings included.

For example, you may select the Exclude tab to add new rules to ensure that some pages aren’t ever cached or cleared of their cache. Quite a few pages and user-agents are already placed in the exclusions by default, such as the wp-login.php page and /wp-admin page, both of which are backend modules and have no reason to use the caching features.

Finally, you may wonder how to instantly clear the cache right from the dashboard with the WP Fastest Cache plugin.

Like Kinsta and many other top caching plugins, WP Fastest Cache adds a Delete Cache button to the top menu in your dashboard.

Click the Delete Cache tab to reveal these options: Clear All Cache, Delete Cache, and Minified CSS/JS. These are the same purging items we saw in the primary WP Fastest Cache Settings page. The only difference is that you can access these any time you want on the WordPress dashboard.

What’s great about WP Fastest Cache is that it often takes less than a second to clear WordPress cache storage. You see a brief loading spinner, but then the dashboard goes back to normal for you to go about your day on WordPress.

The WP Fastest Cache plugin doesn’t show any confirmation message, so you technically assume that the cache clearing worked the right way.

Clear WordPress Cache Using LiteSpeed Cache (Not Allowed at Kinsta)

LiteSpeed Cache markets itself as providing the fastest results out of any WordPress caching plugin. Whether or not that claim is true, it’s clear that users seem to enjoy the modern interface and the speediness that comes with the plugin.

As an overview, the LiteSpeed Cache plugin is a server-level cache, and it’s considered an all-in-one site acceleration solution. All general caching features come with the free version, but some premium add-ons require you to have special hosting from LiteSpeed.

Features we liked include object caching and image optimization, all rolled into one plugin. You can also combine CSS/JS and lazyload your images and iframes. Not to mention, you receive multiple options for choosing a CDN and speeding up your website even more.

It all starts by going to the WordPress dashboard to clear the WordPress cache with the LiteSpeed Cache plugin.

Once the LiteSpeed Cache plugin is installed, you should see an icon, from the plugin developers, on the upper menu in WordPress. Scrolling over this icon reveals several options for you to choose from, including managing your cache, configuring the Settings, and optimizing images.

To rapidly clear the cache without being distracted from the rest of your work, simply click on the icon and choose the Purge All button.

The Purge All button gets rid of all cache storage from the primary LiteSpeed Cache to the CSS and Javascript cache. It’s the most effective way to eliminate any saved versions of code or website data in the cache, especially if you don’t have experience working with more unique cache clearing processes.

You also have several other options available to clear cache. For instance, you could clear the Critical CSS cache and nothing else. Other options include the Opcode Cache, the CSS/JS Cache, and the LSCache.

Clicking the Purge All button runs through the cache cleaning process and should take no more than a few seconds to rid your storage of what was in there. However, it may take a little longer for larger websites with more resources.

The LiteSpeed Cache plugin also doesn’t take you away from your current page on the WordPress dashboard. With this advantage, you’re able to continue working on a page or post while still getting the benefit of clearing the cache if need be.

You’ll see a success message once the cache clearing is done.

Each specific cache clearing function has its own message, so you may see something slightly different depending on which one you go with.

Overall, LiteSpeed Cache offers a simple, intuitive method for clearing the site cache and keeping most of the clutter away from the WordPress interface.

Moving onward, the LiteSpeed Cache plugin also provides advanced tools for clearing your cache automatically and connecting to a free CDN offered through LiteSpeed Cache itself.

To access these tools, click on the LiteSpeed Cache icon and go to the Manage button. As an alternative, you can select the LiteSpeed Cache link in the sidebar menu and choose Dashboard. The Dashboard provides analytics and information about your optimization efforts and caching.

We also recommend going to LiteSpeed Cache > Cache to activate the automated portion of the caching system.

However, the plugin requires you to connect to its CDN before turning on any of these automated features. Therefore, you must first go to LiteSpeed Cache > General.

The resulting page outlines that you must obtain a Domain Key to activate the LiteSpeed CDN. It’s a free service and should speed up your site and page times based on your users’ access to your website.

This page provides information and buttons on how to get that Domain Key within a few steps. In short, they’ll send you to the LiteSpeed Cache website to sign up for an account and link your website to your LiteSpeed Cache dashboard.

After that, the Domain Key field gets filled in, after which you should click on the Save Changes button.

There’s one more course of action to consider before turning on the automated caching. You actually have to say that you want to use the CDN on your website.

To do so, go to LiteSpeed Cache > CDN in the WordPress dashboard.

The first setting asks about the QUIC.cloud CDN. This is what you’re looking for.

Make sure it’s set to the On position, and you Save Changes.

Finally, you’re able to re-navigate back to LiteSpeed Cache > Cache.

The following page contains several switches to activate depending on what you’d like to cache and optimize regularly.

The first setting, called Enable Cache, is the most important for your website. Turn it to the On position.

Having the Enable Cache function set to On ensures that you no longer have to clear the cache every time you update your content manually.

Besides, there are several other caching settings to configure underneath the primary Enable Cache tool.

Some of them include Cache Logged-in Users, Cache Commentors, Cache REST API, and many more. These are far more specific caching procedures than the standard page and object caching, so it’s up to you to decide whether or not it’s helpful for your organization.

Be sure to click on the Save Changes button before proceeding.

Another area to think about involves purging all parts of your cache when an upgrade occurs. A plugin, theme, or WordPress core update enables many additional features on your website, making it an ideal time to purge the cache and ensure everything starts from scratch.

In the LiteSpeed Cache Settings, go to the Purge tab. Set the Purge All On Upgrade switch to On.

The page provides a myriad of other specific purging settings for clearing the cache on certain pages and posts, so feel free to click through these and choose to check off the ones you want to include.

Again, click the Save Changes button when you’re done.

You’ll notice that the LiteSpeed Cache plugin’s caching capabilities are well-segmented so that you’re never caching something that doesn’t need it. Object Caching is no different.

Go to the Object tab in the LiteSpeed Cache Settings to activate this automated clearing of the cache.

Much of the object caching process is already configured for you, so all you have to do is ensure that the Object Cache switch is flipped to the On position.

There you have it! That’s all you really need to know about the LiteSpeed Cache plugin as a regular WordPress user. There are plenty of other more advanced features, both for the CDN and the cache.

Still, the settings outlined above enable you to optimize your website and ensure that the cache isn’t getting in the way of any updates or content additions. If all else fails, go back to that LiteSpeed Cache icon button in the upper WordPress dashboard menu to clear every part of the cache.

How To Clear Cache Through a Browser

The server-side cache isn’t the only element in play when a user pulls up your website. In fact, the user also has a local caching tool already installed into their browser. The vast majority of major browsers include a cache to speed up their own website rendering times and provide a smoother experience to users.

Therefore, you may find that it’s a good idea to either clear the browser cache from your own end (as the site administrator), or you may have to clear your own browser so that a new change on your website actually appears when you’re attempting to test it out and view it.

The first option involves cutting down the number of times the user’s browser looks for static pages in their own browser.

The idea is to find a caching plugin with browser caching capabilities, one that’s simple enough to both manually and automatically activate a clearing of the browser cache without having to go through too much work.

A good example comes from the most recent third-party caching plugin covered above, LiteSpeed Cache.

After going to LightSpeed Cache > Cache in the WordPress dashboard, select the Browser tab to reveal settings for blocking the many repeated requests for static files.

All that’s required is to flip the Browser Cache switch to the On position.

Click on the Save Changes button to finish that process.

Clearing Your Own Browser Cache

On the other hand, you may stumble upon a situation where a plugin is installed on your WordPress site, or maybe you update content on a blog post, and either the plugin functionality or new content doesn’t appear when you visit the frontend of your website.

Chances are you either need to clear your cache on the server-side (with methods discussed above) or clear the browser cache that could be referencing a static page saved from before the update or new content submission.

The good news is that every browser, from Chrome to Firefox, has a tool to clear the browser cache. The features usually sit in a Settings panel, but every browser has a varied interface, making it a little confusing depending on which browser you use.

Therefore, we’ll go through quick steps to clear the browser cache for the top four browsers in terms of popularity.

How to Clear the Cache on Google Chrome

Google doesn’t provide a quick cache clearing button, so you must navigate to the Privacy and Security section, where you’ll find options to clear different parts of the browser cache, including your browser history and saved passwords.

First, open Google Chrome and select the three-dot menu (⋮) button at the browser’s upper right corner.

Go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Clear Browsing Data.

You can go with the Basic tab, but we recommend clicking on the Advanced tab to see more options.

Again, Google doesn’t have a clear cache function. You can still achieve a similar effect by selecting boxes like Browsing history, Download history, Cookies and other site data, and Cached images and files.

Your best bet is to leave the Passwords field unchecked since that will get rid of all saved passwords on your browser, making for a rather frustrating browser experience.

Make sure the Time Range is set to All Time (or however long back you’d like to clear the cache) and click the Clear Data button to complete the process.

How to Clear the Browser Cache on Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge has a similar configuration as Chrome for clearing your site history and the browser cache. Open Microsoft Edge and find the three-dotted icon (⋮) in the upper right-hand corner of the browser. Click on that.

Navigate to Settings > Privacy Search and Services. Locate the Clear Browsing Data section and click the Choose what to clear button.

We recommend you select the following to clear the browser cache in Microsoft Edge successfully:

• Browsing history
• Download history
• Cookies and other site data
• Cached images and files

Mark the time range in which you’d like to go back to clear the data. It usually makes sense to select All-Time in the Time Range field if you’re having trouble with a website not showing new content.

Finally, click the Clear Now button to run the cache clearing.

Another interesting part about the Microsoft Edge Security and Caching section is that you can configure the browser to clear the cache whenever you close the browser.

To do so, go back to the Settings page and click on the button that says Choose what to clear every time you close the browser option.

Like the clearing of your browser cache, this module has a list of options to choose from, the same ones you saw before.

Therefore, check off the Browsing History, Download History, Cookies, and Cached Images and Files items to make a full cache clear every time you close the Edge browser.

Keep in mind that clearing the browser history may not be as desirable as you may think for some people. However, the Cookies should definitely be cleared anyway, as well as the cached images and files.

How to Clear Cache on Safari

If you’re a macOS user, you’re most likely on the Safari browser. In this case, clearing the browser cache comes easy. Apple is known for its simple navigation and interface, so all you have to do is go to the History menu in your Safari browser.

This reveals a button to Clear History. The only other action to take is to select a period of time in which you’d like to clear.

So, you could go for The Last Hour, Today, Today and Yesterday, or All History.

After you choose the timeframe, click the Clear History button to finish the process.

It’s important to know that the Clear History function in Safari does far more than simply getting rid of the websites you’ve visited in the past. In addition to the history being cleared, Safari purges all cookies and the entire cache, or at least as far back as you told it to go.

Another way to only clear the cache, and not everything else like the history and the cookies, is by going to the Develop menu in your browser. There you’ll find an option to Empty Caches.

To reveal the Developer menu (if you can’t see it already), go to Preferences > Advanced and check off the option that says Show Develop Menu in Menu Bar. This is located at the bottom of the module.

How to Clear Cache on Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox, yet another popular internet browser, offers similar tools to clear the website cache. It provides a few extra settings that make it easier to target the cache instead of browsing history and other elements like cookies and passwords.

In Mozilla Firefox, find the Hamburger (☰) button in the browser’s upper right-hand corner.

Click that button to reveal its options.

Find and select Options to proceed.

Click the Privacy and Security tab.

This page shows many security and privacy tools, ranging from features to block tracking to cache clearing capabilities.

You have several options to consider when clearing the browser cache in Firefox. Since the cache isn’t always defined as we would like, you may want to clear things like the site data, cookies, and browser history.

Therefore, Firefox has all of these elements in separate areas of the Privacy and Security page. Unlike the other browsers, there’s not only one button that purges all of them together.

To begin, scroll down the page and locate the Cookies and Site Data section.

Choose the Clear Data button.

By default, two boxes should be checked: Cookies and Site Data, along with Cached Web Content.

This is a great start to clearing the cache since it already includes the web content cached from before.

Make sure both of those are checked and click the Clear button.

Moving on, you also may want to check the box that reads Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed.

This isn’t for everyone, but you might find that closing the browser is an opportune time to get rid of whatever is stored in the data cache.

There’s also a section for History.

Again, the Browser History is often considered part of the browser cache. Therefore, you can click on the Clear History button to proceed through this method.

In the pop-up, click the Time Range To Clear drop-down menu and choose how far back you’d like to clear your history. For instance, you can opt for the Last Hour, Last Two Hours, Last Four Hours, Today, or Everything.

Many times, all you need is a few hours, but to be safe, the Everything option is a good way to go.

Tick the checkboxes for whichever History data elements you’d like to clear out from the cache.

It’s not a bad idea to check all boxes, but Firefox actually provides a box specifically for the Cache, as you can see from the screenshot. So, it’s up to you, but if you’d like to get specific, you could uncheck everything except for the Cache option.

For now, we’ll mark all boxes as checked and click the OK button to clear everything in the browser cache.

Another way to ensure the cache gets cleared regularly is to select the Firefox Will drop-down menu under History.

Choose the option to Use custom settings for history.

This shows three boxes, including the following:

• Remember Browsing and Download History
• Remember Search and Form History
• Clear History When Firefox Closes

It’s not a bad idea to check the first two if you find it annoying to clear the browsing and search history whenever you need to clear the data cache.

After that, choose the Settings button under the History section.

This allows you to get more specific with your purging whenever Firefox closes. For instance, many people don’t like the idea of clearing the browsing history every time, but it’s a good idea to mark the Cache option to clear when closing Firefox.

After you decide on the settings, click the OK button to save everything.

How Do You Clear WordPress Cache With Other Hosts?

As we’ve mentioned a few times in this article, Kinsta already provides a cache clearing system for automating your cache, clearing it manually, and purging the cache on a set schedule.

However, what if you also have a website on a different hosting server?

For this situation, you have several options. The first is to install a caching plugin, like the ones we outlined earlier in this article. Those plugins manage your cache and allow you to clear it manually or configure a timeframe in which you’d like to see the cache cleared.

Alternatively, some hosts may offer something similar to the MyKinsta Cache module, yet you’d have to find this in their hosting dashboard or cPanel. It’s not as common to see a caching tool from a cheaper shared hosting service, but it’s worth asking customer service just in case. Managed WordPress hosting companies are more likely to offer a tool for caching, so once again, do your research and take a look into what features are offered to you.

Finally, your host may also have a way for you to clear a website’s cache through the WordPress dashboard, similar to what’s offered through MyKinsta. Again, it’s not something we see that often from shared hosting services, but you can ask their customer support.