How to Clear Your Cache in WordPress (Step by Step) In 2025

by Trevor

Have you ever updated your WordPress website and didn’t see the changes right away? There might be a chance that you’ve even tried to refresh the page a few times, but the old version keeps popping up. That’s because of cached data.

Caching is a key performance tool that stores a cached version of your website’s pages, images, and scripts. It helps reduce server load and helps your website load faster for visitors. However, an old cache often causes problems and prevents new changes from popping up right away.

Clearing your cache when you’re updating a website, changing a theme, or troubleshooting an error is a very important step to make sure your site shows up at its current version. In this article, we’re going to go over all the different types of cache in WordPress and will let you know when to clear your cache in WordPress.

What is Cache in WordPress?

Cache is a system of temporary storage used to optimize web page performance by reducing the amount of data that the server has to fetch repeatedly. The website cache stores a version of the page which is faster when visited by the user each time.

Cache helps in improving speed and server load, but sometimes, it can store outdated files and prevent updates from making it to the live site. That’s why we recommend you clear the cache regularly so that your visitors see the most recent version of your website.

Along with caching, do you want to optimize your WordPress speed? Don’t wait and enhance your search by going through our guide on how to add woocommerce ajax instant search to your store

Types of Cache in WordPress

There are different levels of cache in WordPress; each has a different part in site performance.

1. Browser Cache

Every time a visitor loads your website, their browser saves some elements like images, stylesheets, and scripts. This allows the browser to load the site faster during future visits instead of downloading everything again. However, this can cause issues when you update your site, as the browser might load an old version.

2. WordPress Cache (Plugin Cache)

Many caching plugins for WordPress helps you to keep pages on your website static, which should reduce database query times and improve load times. Still, if they’re not managed properly, you may continue having them serve outdated content.

3. Web Hosting Cache

You can easily clear cache in your WordPress hosting. Some web hosting offers built-in caching mechanisms to help improve website performance. They run at the server level and store pre-loaded versions of pages to help speed up page load time. The changes you make may not be applied until you manually delete the cache from your hosting panel.

4. CDN Cache

A Content Delivery Network (CDN), is an organization that stores cache versions of your site on many different servers around the world so that users can more quickly load content. But sometimes, if CDN continues to cache outdated files, then users cannot see (update) what you’ve just posted.

5. Object Cache

Object caching helps you to optimize database queries by keeping the frequently requested data in the cache. If the cache is older, then it may cause problems with dynamic content updates.

Each of these caching types serves the purpose of improving the site’s performance, but they all require maintenance to avoid problems with outdated content.

When Should You Clear The Cache?

It’s essential to perform the action of WordPress clear cache in the following situations:

After updating: Whether you’re adding new content, designing your website, or changing CSS, clearing the cache will make things show up instantly.
If your website is not updating: When changes to a website are not reflected even after they’re saved, you can force the last version of a website to load.
Slow load times: Sometimes, an outdated cache will cause performance problems instead of speed improvements.
Troubleshooting errors: If you are having plugin conflicts, layout issues, or broken features you can usually clear the cache to clear out those issues.

Clean your cache regularly to keep your users’ experience smooth and your website’s performance stable.

Methods to Clear Cache WordPress Easily

Following are a few methods explained for your ease:

1. Clear Cache from Your WordPress Hosting Provider

If your hosting provider has a built-in caching system, you may need to clear it manually. Here’s how:

SiteGround: Go to Hosting dashboard > Speed > Caching, then click Flush Cache popping next to your domain name.
Bluehost: From your WordPress dashboard, go to Bluehost > Settings, will see a caching button on the top of admin toolbar, then click Purge Cache.

Check your hosting provider’s documentation if you’re unsure how to clear their cache.

2. Clear Your Web Browser Cache

If you can’t see any recent changes, your browser might be holding on to an old version of your site. Learn how to clean it:

Google Chrome: Select Ctrl + Shift + Delete (Windows) or Cmd + Shift + Delete (Mac), select “Cached images and files” and click Clear Data.
Firefox: Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Cookies and Site Data. Then, choose to click Clear Data.
Safari: Click Safari > Preferences > Privacy, go to Manage Website Data, and remove cached files.

After clearing the browser cache, refresh your site to load the updated version.

3. Clear CDN Cache (If Using a CDN)

If your website uses a CDN, you need to manually purge the cache:

Log in to your CDN provider’s dashboard.
Locate the Purge Cache option.
Choose to Purge Everything or clear specific cached files.

This ensures your updates appear across all global CDN servers.

4. Clear Object Cache in WordPress

For websites, make sure to use object caching because you have to clear the cache when you make database changes:

WP Rocket – Go to Settings > WP Rocket > Clear Cache.
W3 Total Cache – Navigate to Performance > Purge All Caches.
WP Super Cache – Head to Settings > WP Super Cache > Delete Cache.

If you are managing the hosting, make sure to check if the option to clear the object cache from the hosting dashboard is available or not. If yes, then clear it.

WordPress Cache Issues and Fixes

Even after clearing the cache there might be some troubleshooting site issues that need to be fix. So here’s how you can manage it:

Temporarily disable caching plugins: If any cache plugin is causing issues, you can turn it off and see if your website is updating properly.
Use incognito mode: Go to the site in a private browsing window to bypass cached files.
Look for conflicts with other plugins: Some plugins may conflict with cache settings. Uncheck them one by one to find out which one.
Call hosting support: If there is still some problem, you might have extra caching mechanisms set up by your hosting provider that need clearing.

If clearing the cache does not work for you, you could try temporarily unchecking caching to see if it helps. Along with caching, do you want to optimize your WordPress store’s performance? Check out these WooCommerce plugins to enhance your store’s functionality and improve user experience!

Conclusion

Clearing your cache regularly is essential for maintaining your website’s speed, performance, and availability. The outdated cache can prevent updates from displaying properly, causing unnecessary issues. By following the step-by-step methods outlined above, you can easily understand how to clear cache in wordpress through different types of cache, whether it’s browser, plugin, hosting, CDN, or object cache. This simple practice ensures your WordPress site stays fast, responsive, and always up to date.

FAQs

1. Is it safe to delete WordPress cache?

It is considered to be a great idea to clear the cache in WordPress using the tools and options provided by your caching plugin or tool. This system allows you to safely and quickly clear the cache and avoid any disturbance or issues with your website.

2. How can I clear my website cache?

You can clear the cache for specific website in Google chrome such as:

Choose to open the website which you want to clear in the cache.
Simply press Ctrl + F5.
Or you can go for the Developer Tools by pressing F12.
See when the chrome dev tools are open, just click right on the refresh button and a menu will drop down for you on the screen.
You will be able to see the menu giving you the option of doing a hard refresh.

3. How often should you clear a website cache (WordPress)?

It all depends upon what you do online and how often you go and check the same websites. For just a simple internet user, the suggestion would be to empty the cache approximately once or twice every month.