How to Clear Your Cache in WordPress (In-Depth Guide)

Having a cached version of your WordPress site can significantly improve page load times and overall performance. However, sometimes the cache won‘t pick up changes you‘ve made, and will continue serving an outdated version of your site.

Clearing your WordPress cache ensures your site visitors always see the latest updates.

In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll cover the various ways to clear cache in WordPress:

• Clearing your web browser cache
• Purging cache in WordPress caching plugins
• Flushing cache in web hosting providers
• Deleting cached files from WordPress security plugins

Let‘s dive in!

What is Caching in WordPress?

Caching is the process of storing static copies of your WordPress site. This allows the server to serve pre-rendered page versions instead of dynamically generating new HTML on every page load.

Skipping CPU-intensive PHP scripts dramatically improves site performance and load times.

There are several types of caching solutions available for WordPress:

• Browser Cache: Web browsers like Chrome store copies of sites locally to quickly reload pages. This is cleared by users manually.

• WordPress Caching Plugins: Plugins like WP Rocket and WP Fastest Cache create cached versions of your site. These can be purged with a single click.

• Web Hosting Caching: Many managed WordPress hosts like WP Engine have built-in caching. This gets cleared from the hosting admin dashboard.

• CDN Caching: Content delivery networks like Cloudflare also cache sites to reduce load on the origin server. You can purge the CDN cache from their control panel.

• Security Plugin Caching: Firewalls like Sucuri offer caching to protect against attacks. You can flush this cache from the plugin dashboard.

Caching is crucial for performance, but can also cause problems if not cleared properly. Outdated cached copies may continue to be served after you‘ve made changes to your site.

Clearing cache ensures everyone sees your latest updates.

Next, let‘s go over when and why you should clear your WordPress cache.

Why Clear Your WordPress Cache?

Here are some common scenarios where clearing your WordPress cache is needed:

1. Changes Not Showing Up

This is the most obvious caching issue. You make changes to your site, but visitors and yourself see an outdated cached version.

Clearing cache forces WordPress to rebuild fresh site copies, with all your new changes.

2. Troubleshooting Problems

Odd issues like broken formatting, missing images, or display errors often stem from corrupted cache files.

Flushing your WordPress cache is step one in troubleshooting inexplicable problems.

3. Switching Themes or Plugins

When you change themes or deactivate/activate plugins, cached site copies may still reference old files.

A quick cache clear guarantees everything gets rebuilt from scratch.

4. DNS Changes

After moving hosts or pointing your domain to a new server, DNS changes can take time to fully propagate.

Flushing DNS and web cache ensures the new server IP is reflected across the internet.

5. Security Vulnerabilities

Sites powered by outdated software versions are susceptible to hacks and exploits.

Purging cache forces site files to be refreshed, protecting you from dangerous vulnerabilities.

As you can see, clearing your WordPress cache is often the solution for a variety of common issues.

Next, let‘s go over how to clear cache from web browsers, WordPress plugins, web hosts, and security services.

Method 1: Clear Your Web Browser Cache

Web browsers store cached copies of sites locally to speed up return visits.

When your site is updated, the browser may continue to show an outdated cached version.

Clearing your browser cache forces the browser to fetch fresh site files instead of serving locally cached ones.

Here‘s how to clear cache from the most popular web browsers:

Clear Cache in Chrome

Chrome caches a lot of data for faster browsing. To clear it:

1. Click the 3-dot menu icon in the top-right Chrome toolbar.

2. Hover over More tools and select Clear browsing data.

3. Check the boxes for Cached images and files and Cookies and other site data.

4. Click Clear data.

Chrome will now delete all cached site data and files. Your browser will pull a fresh copy of sites upon reloading.

Clear Cache in Firefox

To purge Firefox‘s browser cache:

1. Click the 3-line hamburger menu button in the top-right.

2. Select Settings from the dropdown.

3. Scroll down to Privacy & Security on the left sidebar.

4. Click the Clear Data button under Cookies and Site Data.

5. Check the box for Cached Web Content and click Clear.

Firefox will now wipe all cached content, forcing sites to redownload upon reload.

Clear Cache in Safari

Follow these steps to clear your Safari browser cache:

1. In the Safari menu, click Preferences.

2. Go to the Privacy tab.

3. Under Website Data, click Manage Website Data.

4. Select Remove All in the prompt.

This will delete all locally cached website data. You‘ll now get fresh page loads going forward.

Clear Cache in Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge uses a similar process to clear cached data:

1. Click the 3-dot menu button in the top-right toolbar.

2. Hover over Settings and select Clear browsing data.

3. Check the boxes for Cached images and files and Cookies and saved website data.

4. Click Clear now.

Edge will wipe all cached website files and data from your system.

That covers how to clear cache from all major web browsers. It‘s a good first step to resolving caching issues.

However, if you still see outdated content, then the problem may lie with server-side WordPress caching. Let‘s look at how to clear those next.

Method 2: Purge Cache in WordPress Caching Plugins

WordPress caching plugins create cached versions of your site to boost performance. But sometimes the cache gets outdated and needs to be purged.

Here‘s how to clear cache from the most popular caching plugins:

Clear Cache in WP Rocket

WP Rocket is the leading WordPress caching plugin. To clear its cache:

1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Settings → WP Rocket.

2. On the main WP Rocket page, click the Clear Cache button.

3. Click Confirm on the popup prompt.

This immediately purges all cached site files created by WP Rocket. Your site will rebuild a fresh cache on the next visitor request.

Clear Cache in WP Fastest Cache

WP Fastest Cache is a free alternative to WP Rocket. To empty its cache:

1. Go to WP Fastest Cache in your WordPress dashboard.

2. Click the Delete Cache button on the main page.

3. Click OK to confirm.

The plugin will now wipe all cached files for your entire site.

Clear Cache in W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache is another popular caching plugin. To flush its cache:

1. Go to Performance → Dashboard in your WordPress admin.

2. Scroll to the Empty Cache section.

3. Click the Empty All Caches button.

This instantly deletes all cached page copies created by the W3 Total Cache plugin.

Clear Cache in SG Optimizer

SiteGround users get SG Optimizer built-in. To purge its cache:

1. Look for the SG Optimizer icon in your admin toolbar.

2. Click the dropdown arrow next to it.

3. Select Purge Cache.

The plugin will now clear SiteGround‘s dynamic caching for your WordPress site.

Those are the basics for clearing cache from the most popular WordPress caching plugins. Purging the plugin cache often fixes issues with changes not appearing.

Next, let‘s look at how to clear caching built into web hosting services.

Method 3: Clear Cache in WordPress Hosting Providers

Many managed WordPress hosts have internal caching systems to speed up sites.

If changes aren‘t showing properly, you may need to clear the web host cache.

Here‘s how to purge cache from popular WordPress hosts:

Clear Cache on WP Engine

WP Engine has its own custom caching called Evercache. To clear it:

1. Look for the green WP Engine icon in your WordPress admin bar.

2. Hover over it and select Caching from the dropdown.

3. Click the Clear Caches button on the caching page.

This will Purge all cached site pages on WP Engine‘s servers.

Clear Cache on Kinsta

Kinsta also offers proprietary caching for fast performance. To flush it:

1. Look for the MyKinsta icon in your WordPress admin toolbar.

2. Hover over it and choose Purge Cache from the menu.

3. Click Purge Entire Cache on the modal prompt.

All cached copies of your site will now be deleted from Kinsta‘s CDN.

Clear Cache on Flywheel

Flywheel manages WordPress hosting and uses Nginx caching. To clear it:

1. Login to your Flywheel dashboard.

2. Go to the site you want to purge cache for.

3. Click the vertical 3-dot menu icon next to the site name.

4. Select Purge Cache from the dropdown.

This immediately clears all cached site files from Flywheel‘s servers.

Clear Cache on Bluehost

Bluehost automatically caches sites to enhance performance. To delete cached pages:

1. Look for the Caching button in your Bluehost WordPress admin bar.

2. Hover over it and select Purge All from the menu.

Now all Bluehost caching for your site is purged.

Clear Cache on SiteGround

SiteGround uses its own dynamic caching plus supports caching plugins. To flush it:

1. Install and activate the SG Optimizer plugin.

2. Look for the SG Optimizer icon in your WordPress admin toolbar.

3. Click the dropdown arrow next to the icon.

4. Select Purge Cache from the menu.

The SiteGround cache will now be wiped for your entire WordPress site.

As you can see, most managed WordPress hosts include proprietary caching technology. Clearing the web host cache can resolve issues with changes not appearing for site visitors.

Next, let‘s go over how to clear cache from content delivery networks and security services.

Method 4: Purge Cache in CDNs and Security Plugins

Content delivery networks (CDNs) and security plugins add another layer of caching and protection.

If issues persist even after clearing a WordPress caching plugin or web host cache, try flushing the CDN and security cache.

Here‘s how to do it:

Clear Cache in Cloudflare

Cloudflare provides free CDN and security for sites. To purge its cache:

1. Login to your Cloudflare dashboard.

2. Click your site domain to open the overview page.

3. Scroll down and click the Purge Cache button.

4. In the modal, click Purge Everything.

This instantly deletes all Cloudflare cached files for your entire WordPress site.

Clear Cache in Sucuri

Sucuri Firewall caches sites to protect from attacks. To flush its cache:

1. Go to Sucuri → Firewall in your WordPress dashboard.

2. Click the Clear Cache tab.

3. Click Clear Cache to wipe all Sucuri cached pages.

Now your site will be rebuilt from scratch upon the next visitor request.

Clear Cache in Wordfence

Wordfence also offers caching via the free Wordfence LS plugin. To purge it:

1. Install and activate the Wordfence LS Cache plugin.

2. Go to Wordfence LS → Settings.

3. Scroll down and click the Purge Cache button.

This instantly deletes all cached pages created by Wordfence LS for your site.

Flushing CDN and security service cache provides a clean slate for your WordPress site. Combined with the other cache clearing methods above, it should resolve any caching-related problems.

Refresh DNS Cache (After Migration)

When you migrate your WordPress site to a new host or server, visitors may still hit the old cache due to DNS propagating slowly.

Clearing your local DNS cache ensures you immediately get pointed to the new server IP address.

Here is how to flush your DNS cache on Mac, Windows, and Linux:

Clear DNS Cache on Mac

To flush DNS cache on Mac:

1. Open Terminal

2. Run the command:

sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

3. Restart your computer

This will reset the DNS cache on macOS.

Clear DNS Cache on Windows

To flush DNS cache on Windows:

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator.

2. Run the command:

ipconfig /flushdns

3. Restart your computer.

You have now flushed all cached DNS records on Windows.

Clear DNS Cache on Linux

To flush DNS cache on Linux:

1. Open Terminal

2. Run the command (for Ubuntu/Debian):

sudo systemd-resolve --flush-caches

Or run this for CentOS/RHEL/Fedora:

sudo nscd restart 

3. Restart your system.

This will clear the DNS cache on Linux.

Now your computer will query the new server IP for your migrated WordPress site.

Recap: Clearing Your WordPress Cache

Here‘s a quick recap on how to clear cache in WordPress:

• Clear browser cache manually in Chrome, Firefox, etc.

• Purge cache in WordPress plugins like WP Rocket, WP Fastest Cache.

• Flush cache in managed WordPress hosts like WP Engine, Kinsta.

• Delete cache from CDNs like Cloudflare and Sucuri Firewall.

• Refresh your local DNS cache after migrating hosts.

Clearing your WordPress cache using the techniques above will resolve issues like changes not appearing for visitors, images not loading properly, and other odd site behavior.

Caching is crucial for site performance. But when problems arise, flushing your cache gives your site a fresh start.

We hope this guide helps you keep your site speedy while also up-to-date. Let us know if you have any other WordPress caching tips!