LiteSpeed Cache is a free cache plugin for WordPress. Once it is set up, your website has page cache, browser cache, minified CSS and JS, WebP images, pages loaded ahead on hover, and a leaner database.
The video has no voice. The tables below write out the notes on screen and the state of each setting in the video, in four parts:
| Part | Time in the video |
|---|---|
| Cache Control Settings | 00:00 |
| Image optimization | 02:04 |
| Page optimization | 02:49 |
| Database optimization | 04:19 |
Anything not listed is left at its default in the video.
What do you need to get ready?
- A WordPress website on a LiteSpeed or OpenLiteSpeed server. The page cache of LiteSpeed Cache needs this server, or the QUIC.cloud CDN. On Apache or Nginx the plugin still runs its general optimizations, such as image optimization and CSS and JS minification. The site in the video runs on AZDIGI cPanel hosting (LiteSpeed).
- The LiteSpeed Cache plugin, installed and activated.
- ShortPixel, if you want WebP images as in the video.
Part 1: set up the cache
Go to LiteSpeed Cache > Cache. Click Save Changes after each tab.
| Tab | Setting | In the video |
|---|---|---|
| [1] Cache | Enable Cache | On |
| [1] Cache | Cache Logged-in Users | Off |
| [1] Cache | Cache Commenters, Cache REST API | On |
| [1] Cache | Cache Login Page | Off |
| [1] Cache | Cache favicon.ico, Cache PHP Resources | On |
| [1] Cache | Cache Mobile | Off |
| [2] TTL | Public, Front Page, Feed, REST TTL | 604800 seconds (1 week) |
| [2] TTL | Private Cache TTL | 1800 seconds (30 minutes) |
| [3] Purge | Purge All On Upgrade | On |
| [3] Purge | Serve Stale | Off |
| [5] ESI | Enable ESI | Off |
| [7] Browser | Browser Cache | On, TTL 31557600 seconds (1 year) |
| [8] Advanced | Improve HTTP/HTTPS Compatibility | On |
| [8] Advanced | Instant Click | On |
The notes on screen explain the main choices:
- Logged-in users need no cache, which avoids errors with page builders.
- Turning off Cache Login Page lets you log in without the “Expired” error.
- Browser Cache lets web browsers cache your blog content.
- Instant Click loads a page ahead when the reader moves the pointer over its link, so pages load faster.
In tab [3] Purge, Auto Purge Rules For Publish/Update has these ticked: Front page, Home page, Pages, All pages with Recent Posts Widget, Author archive, Post type archive, Monthly archive, Term archive. So when you publish or update a post, the related pages are refreshed.
Part 2: optimize images
Go to LiteSpeed Cache > Image Optimization, tab Image Optimization Settings:
| Setting | In the video |
|---|---|
| Image WebP Replacement | On |
| WebP For Extra srcset | On |
| WordPress Image Quality Control | 82 |
Turn on WebP when you use ShortPixel to create the WebP image files.
Part 3: optimize pages
Go to LiteSpeed Cache > Page Optimization. LiteSpeed warns at the top of this page: test carefully when you turn on any option, and Purge All once after you change the Minify or Combine settings.
| Tab | Setting | In the video |
|---|---|---|
| [1] CSS Settings | CSS Minify | On |
| [1] CSS Settings | CSS Combine, Unique CSS, CSS HTTP/2 Push, Load CSS Asynchronously | Off |
| [1] CSS Settings | Font Display Optimization | Swap |
| [2] JS Settings | JS Minify, Load JS Deferred | On |
| [2] JS Settings | JS Combine, JS HTTP/2 Push | Off |
| [2] JS Settings | Load Inline JS | Default |
| [3] Optimization Settings | HTML Minify, Inline CSS Minify, Inline JS Minify | Off |
| [3] Optimization Settings | DNS Prefetch Control, Remove Comments, Remove Query Strings | Off |
| [3] Optimization Settings | Load Google Fonts Asynchronously, Remove Google Fonts | Off |
| [3] Optimization Settings | Remove WordPress Emoji | On |
| [4] Media Settings | Lazy Load Images | Off |
| [4] Media Settings | Responsive Placeholder | On |
| [7] Tuning Settings | Combined CSS Priority, Combined JS Priority | Off |
The video only minifies CSS and JS; it does not combine them.
Part 4: optimize the database
Go to LiteSpeed Cache > Database, tab DB Optimization Settings:
| Setting | In the video |
|---|---|
| Revisions Max Number | 3 |
| Revisions Max Age | 30 days |
Keep at most 3 revisions so the database stays lean, and keeping them for 30 days is enough.
How do you know LiteSpeed Cache works?
Log out of the admin account, since logged-in users are not cached. Open the website as a reader and hover over a link: with Instant Click, that page loads ahead and opens almost the moment you click.