About this plugin
DadsFam Cache is a straightforward, no-nonsense performance plugin. It saves ready-made copies of your pages so repeat visitors skip PHP and the database entirely, and it ships with a one-click setup that applies safe, sensible defaults for you. It was built to be understandable by normal humans — every setting is written in plain English with a short explanation of what it actually does. What you get, free Disk-based full-page caching (serves cached pages before WordPress even boots) Gzip pre-compression of cached pages Browser-cache and compression rules for Apache/LiteSpeed (.htaccess), with a copy-paste NGINX snippet Smart automatic clearing — edit a post and only the affected pages clear Clears the cache automatically after plugin, theme or WordPress updates Sensible exclusions out of the box (cart, checkout, my-account, logged-in users) Ignores tracking parameters (utm_*, fbclid, gclid…) so shared links still hit cache Optional separate cache for mobile Cache preloading from your sitemap A dashboard that answers one question first — is my site actually being served fast? — in a sentence, with a dial showing how much of your site is saved and ready It measures the difference and shows you: your home page loaded twice, once built from scratch and once from cache, reported in milliseconds A setup track with a “fix it” button next to anything still outstanding, and a line explaining why each step matters A Support tab with plain-English fixes for the things people actually write in about, and a one-line summary of your setup to paste into a support message Runs from an AI assistant on WordPress 6.9+ — see below Built-in cache test, stats and a copy-ready debug panel Settings export/import The free plugin never phones home. There is no licensing code in it at all. Want more? DadsFam Cache Pro is a separate add-on plugin that installs alongside this one and adds its tabs to this same settings screen: minification, critical CSS, LCP and font optimisation, defer/delay JavaScript, lazy-loading, WebP conversion, CDN rewriting, database cleanup, Heartbeat control and auto-preload. Grab it from https://www.dadsfam.co.za/shop/ For developers This plugin is built to be extended. The add-on API: Filters dadsfam_cache_is_pro — answer true to unlock Pro-flagged fields dadsfam_cache_has_addon — answer true if an add-on is present dadsfam_cache_page_html ( $html, $context ) — transform a page before it is cached dadsfam_cache_settings_defaults ( $defaults ) — register extra settings dadsfam_cache_sanitize_settings ( $clean, $raw ) — sanitize them on save dadsfam_cache_admin_tabs ( $tabs ) — register settings panels dadsfam_cache_ajax_tasks ( $tasks ) — register AJAX handlers (cap + nonce checked for you) dadsfam_cache_admin_localize ( $data ) — add data for the admin JS dadsfam_cache_htaccess_rules_before / dadsfam_cache_htaccess_rules / dadsfam_cache_nginx_snippet dadsfam_cache_speed_setup ( array( $settings, $notes ) ) — contribute to One-Click Speed Setup dadsfam_cache_cache_this_request ( bool ) — veto caching for the current request dadsfam_cache_purge_post_paths ( $paths, $post_id ) — extra paths to clear dadsfam_cache_preload_urls ( $urls ), dadsfam_cache_auto_preload ( bool ) dadsfam_cache_footer_comment ( $comment ) — return ” to leave cached pages unmarked dadsfam_cache_debug_info ( $rows ) — add rows to the support panel Actions dadsfam_cache_loaded ( $version ) — the plugin is wired and safe to extend dadsfam_cache_purged_all , dadsfam_cache_purged_everything , dadsfam_cache_purged_post ( $post_id, $paths ) dadsfam_cache_settings_saved ( $settings ), dadsfam_cache_deactivated dadsfam_cache_preload_settings — print extra fields on the Preload tab Add-ons should boot on plugins_loaded at priority 20 or later. WordPress sorts active plugins alphabetically, so an add-on’s file may well be included before this one’s — never touch a DadsFam_Cache_ class at include time. Also useful: add data-no-optimize to any script or stylesheet tag to have Pro leave it alone, data-no-lazy on an image to keep it eager, and define( 'DONOTCACHEPAGE', true ); to skip caching a request. Works with AI assistants If you are on WordPress 6.9 or later and have an MCP plugin connected, this plugin tells your assistant what it can do. You can ask things like “is caching actually working on my site?”, “why is my change not showing up?”, “how much faster is the cached version?” or “stop caching the members page”, and it will read the real state of your site and act on it. Every action needs the same permission as the settings screen, so an assistant can never do more than you could. Reading is separated from changing, anything that edits a file or slows the site says so first, and removing the caching engine is not offered at all. A word about PRO Right, let me be straight with you, because I hate being sold to as much as you do. Everything above is free and it stays free. Caching your pages to disk, gzip, browser-cache rules, clearing the cache automatically when you change something, preloading and the one-click setup — none of those are premium features. Those are the things a cache plugin should just do, and if I put them behind a paywall I would be taking the mickey. There is a PRO add-on. It exists because I am a dad in Cape Town, and this is one of the things that puts food on the table at my house. That is the honest reason. Not “unlock your potential”, not “supercharge your workflow”. Just: if this plugin made your site quicker and you can spare it, PRO helps me keep building. What PRO adds is the heavier optimisation you reach for once the basics are in place — shrinking and combining your CSS and JavaScript, holding non-critical scripts back until they are needed, lazy-loading images, serving WebP, pushing static files to a CDN, and tidying up your database. That is extra speed and convenience. It is not the plugin working properly, because the plugin already works properly. So if the free one does everything you need, brilliant. Genuinely. Use it, and I hope it takes a load off your server and your visitors’ patience. If you get to the point where squeezing out the last few points would help, PRO is at plugins.dadsfam.co.za. Either way, thanks for using something I built. — Zak, DadsFam PRO adds: Minification of CSS, JavaScript and HTML Critical CSS, LCP and font optimisation Defer and delay JavaScript until it is needed Lazy-loading for images and iframes WebP image conversion CDN rewriting Database cleanup and Heartbeat control Automatic preloading after a purge