When it comes to optimizing WordPress performance, the choice between ‘Varnish vs Redis’ is a critical decision. Varnish and Redis are both valuable caching solutions employed in WordPress, each serving distinct purposes within the platform. Varnish accelerates website loading by caching and serving static content, while Redis optimizes data storage and retrieval, enhancing overall performance. In this blog, we’ll explore the roles of Varnish and Redis in optimizing WordPress performance and help you decide whether to choose one, both, or a combination of these caching solutions for your WordPress site.
What Is Redis?
Redis is an open-source memory object caching system used by websites to accelerate page load times. It caches frequently accessed data, including API call results and database queries, in RAM. Redis is often chosen over Memcached for its exceptional performance, speed, and user-friendly nature. Integrating Redis caching into your WordPress site can significantly enhance its performance and reduce page load times.
What Is Varnish?
Varnish is a high-performance HTTP accelerator, functioning as a caching HTTP reverse proxy or web application accelerator. It’s installed in front of HTTP-speaking servers and is configured to cache content. Varnish Cache is renowned for its exceptional speed, often boosting content delivery by a factor of 300 to 1000 times, depending on your server architecture.
Optimize WordPress with Redis and Varnish Cache
Supercharge your WordPress site with Cloudways. Harness Redis and Varnish Cache for lightning-fast performance, automatic updates, and expert support.
Should I Choose Redis or Varnish Cache?
Redis and Varnish are both open-source tools. Currently, Redis has a significant following with approximately 37.4K GitHub stars and 14.4K forks on GitHub, while Varnish has a smaller presence with around 908 GitHub stars and 216 GitHub forks. According to the StackShare community, Redis enjoys broader popularity, being mentioned in over 3,000 company stacks and nearly 1,800 developer stacks. In comparison, Varnish is listed in around 1,000 company stacks and 140 developer stacks. Typically, Redis and Varnish are best deployed on separate servers rather than sharing resources with web servers and databases. They should be configured to use your server’s Private Network IP. When used together, they can offer exceptional performance. Cloudways utilizes both Redis and Varnish in conjunction to achieve unmatched performance. Not many hosting providers are known to leverage both, which makes Cloudways managed WordPress hosting service unique. When deciding which one to opt for, I would recommend choosing both, as this will likely lead to significantly improved performance compared to selecting only one.
Pros & Cons of Redis
Pros
– High-speed caching
– Simple and easy installation
– Supports various data structures
– Advanced caching capabilities
– Scalable without causing downtime
Cons
– Limited storage capacity (512 MB) for key-value pairs
– Data retrieval from different instances can be challenging
– It may not be suitable for extensive data storage
– Limited capability for handling large amounts of data
– May not excel in scenarios requiring extensive data storage
Pros & Cons of Varnish
Pros
– High-performance HTTP accelerator
– Functions as a caching HTTP reverse proxy
– Exceptional speed (boosts content delivery)
– Enhances web server performance
– Reduces load on backend servers
Cons
– Requires a more complex configuration
– Primarily focuses on caching HTTP content
– It may not be as versatile in handling various data types
– Users may require additional expertise for configuration and fine-tuning
– Open source and actively maintained
How Cloudways Uses Redis and Varnish?
How Cloudways Uses Redis?
All Cloudways servers come with Memcached as the default object cache. However, WordPress Redis offers a more sophisticated and comprehensive implementation that encompasses all the functionalities of Memcached while introducing additional features.
How to Manage Redis?
Access your Cloudways Platform using your login credentials. Navigate to the top menu bar and select Servers. Choose the specific server you want to manage. Within Server Management, click on Manage Services. Toggle the status of Redis by selecting Enable to activate the service. Conversely, you can deactivate Redis by choosing Disable.
How Cloudways Uses Varnish?
Cloudways servers are shipped with Varnish pre-installed, so you and your website visitors enjoy faster load times and a premium user experience. Cloudways servers come with Varnish pre-installed, ensuring that you and your website visitors experience faster load times and a premium user experience.
How to Manage Varnish?
By default, Varnish is enabled on all Cloudways servers. Enabling Varnish on the server activates Varnish caching for all applications hosted on that server. Conversely, disabling Varnish on the server deactivates Varnish caching for all applications hosted on that server. You can follow the same steps to Enable and Disable Varnish as I defined above.
Benchmarking Server With and Without Varnish and Redis by ApacheBench
ApacheBench is a pre-installed tool on the Cloudways server. ab is a utility tool used for benchmarking Apache Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) servers. Its primary purpose is to provide insights into the performance of your existing Apache installation.
Conclusion
In summary, when it comes to enhancing WordPress website performance, the choice between Varnish vs Redis is pivotal. Redis excels at versatile data storage, while Varnish accelerates web content delivery—two critical components for optimizing WordPress site speed and delivering an exceptional user experience. Cloudways WordPress hosting stands out by providing a unique technology stack that uses Redis and Varnish in conjunction. This integrated approach is designed to significantly boost your WordPress website’s performance, resulting in faster load times and an enhanced user experience.
