It used to be that if you were using even moderately sophisticated PHP programs, then you wold want to convert your PHP pages to HTML on your local server so that users wouldn’t need to wait for your pages to be processed. But is that still necessary? Anecdotally, I have been removing local page caching plugins from many sites, and whenever I have done it with the latest version of PHP (8.2 as of this post) and WordPress (6.3 as of the post), I have noticed that the page speed performance has improved with the version updates, even though I had removed a caching plugin. In fact, I have seen some caching plugins that have actually caused the page speed to slow down.
How Do These Plugins Work?
Caching plugins can do a lot of things. The particular plugins that I am referencing are plugins that create a folder, then they run the PHP program that creates the page for your visitor, then they store that page as an HTML file in the folder so that your users don’t have to wait for your PHP program to be run when they request the page. It is also possible for a plugin to use hashing, but the principle is still the same.
WordPress and PHP Processing Speed
When WordPress and PHP are capable of processing your programs faster, storing a ready copy as HTML can have an undetectable influence. However, other factors can make PHP to HTML caching useful.
Server Impact of Caching PHP to HTML
It is also important to realize that the server that your site is being hosted on will also have an impact on how fast your PHP programs are processed. Higher quality servers can process information faster than lower quality servers. Think of how much your PC improved the last time that you got a new laptop. The same principle is true for servers and their operating software.
WordPress Theme and Plugins Impact
How your WordPress theme is written is another factor that will affect how fast your PHP is processed. The quantity and quality of your plugins will also have an impact. However, you may find that themes and plugins that used to be a little bit slow will now load about as fast as a lot of the so called “lightweight” themes if they have been updated to the latest versions of WordPress and PHP.
Traffic Impact of Caching PHP to HTML
The number of people that are using your site will also have an impact on how fast your page is loading. If you are on a shared server, then other websites that are being hosted on your site will also present an impact.
The Advantages of Not Caching PHP to HTML
The primary advantage of not caching your HTML locally is you have less to manage. Anytime you add a plugin to your WordPress site, you make it more complicated to manage. You need to make sure that the plugin is set up properly, and it is actually working. And you need to make sure that the HTML files are not out of date. So you may be required to manually refresh the cache after updating content.
Don’t Neglect the Use of a CDN
It’s important to realize the impact of not caching HTML pages on a local server is distinct from other forms of caching. Eliminating local HTML caching will not offset the need to use a CDN. It is also worth noting that if you know how to cache your HTML into a CDN, that may still cause a detectable performance enhancement.
Try It and Test It
Do you want to know if you can ditch your page caching plugin? All you have to do is try it and test it. First run your web page and see what page speed score you get. Then disable your page caching plugin and run the test again. Try this on at least several pages of your site. If the performance of your page is as good or better than before you disabled the plugin, it probably means that you don’t need a local page caching plugin anymore.
My Experience
My experience has been pretty consistent. WordPress websites that run on traffic appropriate servers and run the latest versions of PHP gain less benefit from local PHP to HTML page caching than they used to. But a significantly large volume of traffic will produce some noticeable benefit. And I have noticed that there is still a slight benefit from caching the HTML into a CDN. It should be noted that most of my testing has been done using the Big Themes. It is also worth noting that WordPress 6.4 is currently being advertised as being even faster than WordPress 6.3.
Questions?
If you have any questions, then feel free to post them in the comments sections below.