How many caching plugins should be used?

Question

Online researching shows that there are many plugins out there to perform caching on WP. Just to name a few:

• WP Super Cache
• W3 Total Cache
• WP Widget Cache
• DB Cache Reloaded
• 1 Blog Cacher
• Hyper Cache

Is using just one plugin good, or is there a point in using more then one at the same time?

Answer 1

@Tal,

Generally speaking you should only be using one caching plugin. WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache, Hyper Cache and DB Cache Reloaded all drop files directly in your wp-content directory and they would conflict with each other and cause errors if you were using more than one.

I would recommend using W3 Total Cache because it gives you the option of using 5 levels of caching. Page Cache, DB Cache, Object Cache, Minify, and Browser Cache plus it has built in support for using a CDN.

Answer 2

It depends on the plugins you use. Some of them cache just posts and pages, others do the same to the sidebar only, other optimize more specific data (user data for examples)...

You'd better read carefully the descriptions and decide for yourself.