What does a cache plugin do?

Generally speaking, cache plugins save your site’s content in a given time and state. After that, they’ll keep displaying the content they’ve saved until you clear the cache. Clearing the cache regenerates the cache files. In other words, it saves yoursite again which makes the changes you’ve made on your site show up.

So, clearing the cache is always a good idea after you make changes on your site. It’s worth noting that some cache plugins clear their cache automatically after you save a post or page.

What are the most popular caching plugins for WordPress?

WordPress powers over 43% of websites. This means WordPress is super popular, both amongst developers and users. Because of its popularity, there are many plugins to give WordPress extra functions. Some plugins let you build your page visually, with no coding knowledge. Others help strengthen its security. Additionally, there are many plugins which help you optimize your website.

There are many popular cache plugins today, each having millions of users. The most popular ones include WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, WP Fastest Cache WP, Super Cache. LiteSpeed Cache is also very popular, but that only runs on LiteSpeed servers. Unfortunately, my test server didn’t run on LiteSpeed, so I wasn’t able to test this plugin.

However, I tested all others listed above. In this article I’ll check which one helps you most to optimize your site where you use Smart Slider. Let’s dig in!

Speed testing of the page

To see which plugin helps the most to optimize my website with Smart Slider, I’ll test each of them. In order to perform fair tests, I’ll use the exact same server for each test. I’ll only enable two plugins: Smart Slider and the cache I’m currently testing. Additionally, I’ll use the TwentyTwenty theme. I’ll use a 10Mb/s connection and an incognito window. Also, I’ve reloaded the page 5 times to leverage browser caching.

Loading speed without any plugins

One of the most interesting aspects of a speed test is to see how a page performs on its own, with no plugins enabled. In other words, when there are no plugins to slow down the page. So, the only thing that affects the page load is the speed of the server, the theme and the content of the page. Here’s how my testing server performs on a page that has only text and a few images.

Speed of Smart Slider

After testing the page load time on a simple page, I also wanted to test how much time it takes for the page with Smart Slider to load. I’ve used the Layer Slider template for testing. During this test, the only enabled plugin I had was Smart Slider. Here’s the speed result:

Testing with WP Rocket

WP Rocket is a paid caching plugin, which powers more than 2 million websites. So, it’s widely popular and it made me super curious about how much speed I can gain by using it. While running the speed tests, I used WP Rocket version 3.10.7. I enabled WP Rocket’s cache option. Additionally, I also enabled the CSS and JS minification and combination options.

That’s a pretty great result. With a slider on the page, WP Rocket managed to make the page load faster than the very first test I had run. That test measured a single page with text and images, without any activated plugins. Pretty impressive job!

Testing with WP Fastest Cache

WP Fastest cache is a freemium plugin. This means there’s a free version on WordPress.org you can grab for free to use. But, there’s also a premium version which offers some extra options. For the test, I used WP Fastest Cache free, version 0.9.8. Also, I’ve turned on Minify HTML and CSS, Combine CSS and JS, GZip, browser caching and disabled the emojis.

Testing with WP Super Cache

WP Super cache is a free cache plugin, which is used by more than 2 million websites. I used it’s simple caching and enabled page compression as well. I ran the tests using version 1.7.6.

Testing with W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache is another free cache plugin you can download from WordPress.org. After installing it I enabled the cache. I also turned on its minifying options for better performance. The W3 Total Cache version I used for testing was 2.2.1.

Summarized results

Each caching plugin performed pretty well and they made the site load faster. So, I can recommend any of them to you to help you make your site faster. Below there is the summary of how each plugin performed, so you can compare them more conveniently.

Based on the tests, the plugin that helped speed up my site the most was WP Rocket. In fact, it had the fewest requests and smallest load time and page size. WP Fastest Cache deserves second place with its fast load time and small number of requests. But W3 Total Cache follows it very closely with just one more request and 35ms extra loading time.

As mentioned above, I wasn’t able to test the LiteSpeed cache since my testing server is not on LiteSpeed. Keep in mind that LiteSpeed Cache was created for LiteSpeed servers. As a result, it might perform better on those servers than the other plugins. So, it’s worth running your own tests, especially with the free plugins.

Conclusion

Every website is different. For this reason, it’s worth investing some time in finding the best cache plugin for the site at hand. As a result, you can find the plugin that will speed your site up the most. If you’re only looking for a free solution, try WP Fastest Cache or W3 Total Cache. However, if you’re interested in paid plugins, I can recommend WP Rocket for you.

The post What’s the best cache plugin to use with Smart Slider? appeared first on Smart Slider 3 — WordPress Plugin.

What’s a nulled theme or nulled plugin?

Nulled plugins and themes are pirated versions of premium WordPress plugins and themes. In other words, nulled themes and plugins are not offered by the original author. Instead, they are offered by some 3rd party website that has no connection to the original author. In fact, usually developers are not even aware of the site that offers their plugin or theme.

Why would someone use a nulled plugin or nulled theme?

Usually the reason behind using a nulled software is to save money. Premium WordPress plugins and themes often seem to cost a bit too much. As a result, site owners move on and start looking for alternatives. This can lead them to nulled websites, where they can download the plugin or theme without paying.

So, nulled plugins and themes seem like a great deal. It makes people think they get a premium WordPress plugin or theme for no cost at all. They think that because there’s no upfront payment to be able to download the installer. Obtaining a paid product without spending money seems like a good deal. However, there’s a cost of using nulled plugins, even if you don’t pay that immediately.

7 reasons why you should avoid nulled plugins and themes

Nulled plugins and nulled themes give the impression of getting a paid plugin or theme for free. However, they do come with a cost, even if you won’t pay that cost immediately. Nulled plugins and themes can cause serious harm in your website.

So, you’ll pay for using any nulled product when you waste time trying to figure out what’s wrong with your site. Additionally, you can pay real money to fix the damage they’ve done to your site.

1. They cause security problems

The first issue with nulled themes and plugins is the security concern. You can’t be sure you get the exact same installer that paid users do, since you didn’t get it from the author. The 3rd party can do anything with the installer before you downloaded it. To make it more simple, you have no chance of knowing whether the installer is safe to use.

In fact, nulled plugins and themes are always modified by the 3rd party that distributes them. For example, the distributor usually modifies the plugin or theme work without license.

You might not mind having to enter the license, which you won’t have anyway. However, nulled distributors don’t stop there. In fact, many nulled plugins contain malicious code. For example, they might create a backdoor on your site, to give access to your site to the distributor. In other words, your website can get hacked because of using a nulled plugin. Cleaning up a hacked site can cost thousands of dollars.

2. They can steal private information

Apart from getting access to your website, nulled plugins can steal your site’s data. They can contain codes that “phone home” and steal the data of your users. So, the private information of anyone who registered to your site ends up at the distributor. For example, they can get their hands on email names, addresses, passwords and other data.

This is especially concerning because of certain data protection laws, such as GDPR. If your users’ data is leaked because of your site, you can face a serious lawsuit.

3. They can destroy your SEO

Having a good SEO is crucial to any website. However, Nulled plugins can destroy that by inserting malicious links to your website. Or they can redirect to spammy websites. This can highly increase your bounce rate, not to mention that Google sees these links. So, they can ruin your ranking, or in a worst case scenario, make Google blacklist your site.

In fact, in most cases you will not even notice the problem until it’s too late. Malicious codes like these usually won’t appear for administrators. So you will only notice you’re missing traffic, without knowing why.

4. There are no updates

Premium WordPress themes and plugins need a license key to update. This license key is only available for those who buy the products directly from the author. In other words, by using a nulled plugin or nulled theme, you will not have a license key. Without the key, you will not be able to update.

Why are updates so important? They can contain important fixes. For example, security patches. Or maybe compatibility codes with new WordPress and PHP versions. Using the latest WordPress, plugin and theme version can help reduce security risks. So you should always use the latest version of your theme, plugins and WordPress.

If you can’t update your theme, or a plugin, updating WordPress or PHP can cause site-breaking changes. If you can’t update a plugin you’re either forced to remove it, or to stop updating your site.

5. You’re on your own

Another aspect of premium themes and plugins is that they need a license to get support. The developers invest lots of time to develop, document and support their product. For this reason, they can only offer their help to those who purchased it from them.

If you use a nulled plugin or theme, you can’t ask the author for support. In fact, some plugins and themes make the documentation available only for their customers. So, if you don’t buy the product, you can’t even browse the documentation. You’ll need to learn the plugin or theme all by yourself, with no one to turn to.

6. They discourage innovation

Creating a fantastic plugin or beautiful theme takes lots of skill and effort. Additionally, developers always need to learn the latest technologies to improve their product. For these reasons, they deserve an income for their efforts.

By using nulled plugins and nulled themes, the developers don’t get income. If they don’t earn money from their plugin, they’ll likely abandon it. As a result, plugins and themes can disappear. This can destroy the whole WordPress ecosystem in the long run.

7. They can cause legal problems

I know what you’re thinking: why are legal problems so low in this list? Aren’t nulled plugins and themes illegal? Shouldn’t you have started with the legal issues?

In fact, usually it’s not illegal to use nulled plugins. WordPress is under the General Public License (GPL). In fact, usually the WordPress plugins and themes are under GPL as well. This means after getting the installer, people are free to run, study, change, and distribute it.

However, many themes and plugins are not fully licensed under GPL. They contain some files which are under a different license. If you don’t buy the plugin or theme from the author, you’re not authorized to have these files on your server.

Additionally, there are some hosts where it’s a breach of terms and services to use any pirated software. If the nulled plugin/theme is not fully licensed under GPL, hosting it can cause legal troubles for the host as well. Additionally, the malicious codes they contain are dangerous to the server, too.

What are the alternatives of a nulled plugin?

Nulled themes and plugins have only one thing that seems like an advantage. They don’t need upfront payment to run. It’s okay if you don’t want to spend money on a premium plugin or theme. But avoid nulled plugins and look for free plugins instead.

One of the best places to find free themes and plugins from trusted sources is WordPress.org. It has a huge list of free themes and possibly an even greater list of plugins. These plugins come directly from the author, so they won’t contain malicious code. The plugin authors have no intent on doing shady tricks like that.

Conclusion

Nulled plugins and themes seem appealing, because they appear to give access to paid products for free. Although you don’t need to pay to download them, they do come with a high cost. In fact, they’ll cost you money and time in the long run, because they often contain malicious codes. Cleaning up a hacked site is hundred times more expensive than a premium theme or plugin.

Ultimately, nulled plugins and nulled themes are dangerous, and you should not install them on your site. If you’re looking for a theme or plugin you can’t use without paying, check WordPress.org. You’ll find plenty of great products there for free.

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