Why LiteSpeed Cache Beats Every Other Caching Plugin
If your WordPress host runs LiteSpeed Web Server — and at Hostao, all our plans do — you have access to the only caching plugin that communicates directly with the server. WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, and every other option works around the server. LiteSpeed Cache works with it.
That distinction matters because server-level caching eliminates an entire layer of processing. Your pages load faster with less configuration headaches. But the plugin ships with dozens of settings, and the defaults aren't optimized for most sites. Let's fix that.
Cache Settings That Actually Matter
Page Cache
Turn it on. This is the single most impactful setting. Once enabled, LiteSpeed stores fully rendered HTML pages and serves them directly without running PHP or hitting your database.
Cache logged-in users: Leave this OFF unless you run a membership site. For most business and blog sites, logged-in users are just admins — caching their views wastes storage.
Cache mobile: Turn this ON only if your theme serves genuinely different markup for mobile. If you use a responsive theme (most modern themes), mobile visitors get the same HTML. Enabling this when unnecessary doubles your cache storage for no benefit.
TTL (Time to Live)
Default TTL is 604800 seconds (7 days). For most sites, this is fine. If you publish daily blog content, drop it to 86400 (1 day). For WooCommerce product pages that rarely change, bump it to 2592000 (30 days).
The key principle: set TTL based on how frequently your content actually changes, not how frequently it might change.
Image Optimization: The Hidden Speed Killer
Images account for 60-80% of page weight on most WordPress sites. LiteSpeed Cache includes a free image optimization service that runs through their QUIC.cloud CDN.
Recommended Settings
Auto Request Cron: ON — automatically sends new images for optimization without manual intervention.
Image WebP Replacement: ON — serves WebP format to browsers that support it (which is every modern browser in 2026). WebP files are typically 25-35% smaller than equivalent JPEGs.
Preserve EXIF data: OFF — unless you run a photography site. EXIF data adds unnecessary bytes to every image.
Optimize Original Images: ON with quality set to 82. This sweet spot reduces file size meaningfully without visible quality loss on screens.
Lazy Load
Enable lazy load for images and iframes. This prevents below-the-fold images from loading until the visitor scrolls to them. On a typical blog post with 5-8 images, this can cut initial page load by 40%.
Exclude above-the-fold images by adding their CSS classes to the exclusion list. You want your hero image and logo to load immediately — lazy loading them creates an ugly flash.
CSS and JavaScript Optimization
CSS
Minify CSS: ON — removes whitespace and comments. Safe for virtually all themes.
Combine CSS: Be careful here. In 2026, with HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 being standard, combining files offers minimal benefit and can actually hurt performance by creating one large file that blocks rendering. Leave this OFF unless your server doesn't support HTTP/2.
Load CSS Asynchronously: ON — this is the biggest CSS performance gain. It prevents CSS from blocking page rendering. Your page structure appears almost instantly, with styling applied fractions of a second later.
Generate Critical CSS: ON — works with async CSS to ensure above-the-fold content is styled immediately. Without this, async CSS causes a brief flash of unstyled content.
JavaScript
Minify JS: ON.
Combine JS: OFF for the same HTTP/2 reasons as CSS.
Load JS Deferred: ON — moves JavaScript execution after the page has loaded. This prevents scripts from blocking rendering.
Exclude jQuery: Add jQuery to the defer exclusion list. Many WordPress plugins depend on jQuery being available immediately. Deferring it often breaks sliders, forms, and interactive elements.
Database Optimization
- LiteSpeed Cache includes database cleanup tools. Run these monthly:
- Clean post revisions — WordPress saves every revision of every post. Sites with 100+ posts can accumulate thousands of unnecessary revision entries.
- Clean auto-drafts — abandoned draft posts that serve no purpose.
- Optimize database tables — defragments tables for faster queries.
Don't enable automatic database optimization on a schedule unless you have reliable backups. One corrupted optimization can take down your site.
CDN Configuration
If you're using QUIC.cloud (LiteSpeed's CDN) or Cloudflare, configure the CDN settings:
QUIC.cloud: Enable it in the CDN tab and link your domain through the QUIC.cloud dashboard. Free tier includes generous bandwidth for most small-to-medium sites.
Cloudflare: If you prefer Cloudflare, enter your API credentials in the CDN tab. LiteSpeed Cache automatically purges Cloudflare's cache when you update content — eliminating the stale content problem.
The Settings I Use on Every Client Site
- Here's my quick-start checklist that gets most WordPress sites to a 90+ PageSpeed score:
- Page Cache ON, TTL 86400
- Image optimization ON with WebP replacement
- Lazy load images and iframes (exclude hero images)
- Minify CSS and JS (don't combine)
- Async CSS with Critical CSS generation
- Defer JS (exclude jQuery)
- Browser cache ON with max TTL
- Monthly database cleanup
This configuration works for 90% of WordPress sites. The remaining 10% need tweaks based on their specific theme and plugin stack.
What to Do If Something Breaks
- After changing settings, always check your site in an incognito browser window. Common issues:
- Broken layout → Turn off CSS combine or async CSS
- Non-functional forms or sliders → Add the relevant JS file to the defer exclusion list
- Missing images → Check lazy load exclusions
- Stale content → Purge all cache from the LiteSpeed Cache menu
Need help optimizing your WordPress site? Hostao's managed hosting plans include LiteSpeed with expert optimization support. We'll configure everything for you.