DadsFam Cache

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, plus Brotli where your server supports it (15–20% smaller again)
• Serve-stale-while-refreshing: an expired page is handed to the visitor instantly and rebuilt in the background, so nobody ever waits for a cache expiry
• Bloat removal: drop the emoji script, embed discovery, jQuery Migrate, Dashicons and the leftover head tags — each with a plain note on when to leave it alone
• 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.

There is one PRO version and one price: R500 once off, roughly $35, per plugin. It is not a subscription, there is no yearly renewal, and it does not expire. Pay once and it stays yours, updates included. If the free version does everything you need, use that and think nothing of it — it is not crippled to push you across, and it never will be.

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

External services

DadsFam Cache does not connect to any outside service, and nothing about your site or your visitors is sent anywhere.

It does make requests to your own website — and only to your own website:

• Preloading reads your own sitemap and visits your own pages, so a saved copy is ready before the first visitor arrives. Addresses that are not on your site are ignored, even if a sitemap lists them.
• The Dashboard speed test, when you press it, loads your own home page twice to measure the difference the cache makes.
• Serve stale while refreshing (off unless you switch it on) asks your own server to rebuild an expired page in the background.