Knowledge Base

What is LiteSpeed Cache and why we recommend using it?

Note: This guide is targeted at WordPress users. LiteSpeed Cache is also available for and works with several other CMS. Customers using other solutions or script can still benefit from the article.

PHP is a powerful language. However, by default whenever a page is requested, it needs to generate the content from the scratch. Several popular CMS based on PHP such as WordPress works the same. Whenever a visitor comes to your site, whole page need to be (re)generated everytime a page is loaded.

To solve this problem, there are several cache plugins available for WordPress which cache (store generated page) the content when a page is loaded. Next time the page is requested, cached version is served therefore saving the resources and time required to generate the page.

However, we always recommend our shared hosting customers to use LiteSpeed Cache plugin available for WordPress. Why?

Due to the webserver limitations, most cache plugins cannot tightly integrate with the server. At VapourHost we use the industry leader webserver for shared hosting environment i.e. LiteSpeed Web Server which offers built-in page cache. LiteSpeed Cache plugin is therefore able to communicate with the server directly to leverage its cache system. Cached pages will bypass PHP altogether and visitor will be directly served the previously generated content. The result? Dramatically reduced page load times and more available CPU resources.

Beside cache, it also offers CSS, HTML and JavaScript minification along with image optimisation.

Now, how to use it?

You can either directly install this plugin from your WordPress admin area or use the cPanel to do so.

To directly install:

  1. Go to your WordPress Admin Dashboard
  2. On the sidebar, goto Plugins and Select Add New
  3. Search for “LiteSpeed Cache” (without quotes, ofc)
  4. Click on Install Now button.

To install via cPanel (recommended for multiple WordPress installations):

  1. Login to your cPanel account
  2. Goto “LiteSpeed Web Cache Manager” under Advanced tab
  3. Click on “WordPress Cache” under LiteSpeed Cache Management section
  4. If you do not see any table with list of your WordPress installations, click Scan or Re-Scan button
  5. If successful, it will show list of WordPress installations found under your account. Select the ones on which you want to install this plugin and click Enable button
  6. If successful, you will see a green icon next to the path.

How to configure?

LiteSpeed Cache plugin works right out of the box. However if you ever find yourself need to make some changes, please refer to this article by their developers:

The Beginner’s Guide to LiteSpeed Cache for WordPress

That’s it. If you have a question, please open a ticket.

Stuck? We can help!
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