--- title: "Frosty Cache vs WP REST Cache — Live Benchmark" description: "Live head-to-head benchmark of Frosty Cache vs WP REST Cache on identical demo sites. See HIT/MISS response times, WooCommerce and CoCart coverage, and full methodology." language: "en-GB" canonical_url: "https://frostycache.com/vs-wp-rest-cache/" source_url: "https://frostycache.com/vs-wp-rest-cache/" content_type: "text/markdown" --- Live Benchmark · Frosty Cache vs WP REST Cache · Same Host Configuration # Frosty Cache vs WP REST Cache. Head-to-head. Two identical live demo sites on shared hosting, same content, same theme — one running Frosty Cache’s, the other running WP REST Cache. Same six WordPress REST API endpoints, tested live on both. ~751ms Frosty Cache HIT median · live · pre-database ~832ms WP REST Cache HIT median · live · database transient ~10% Faster HIT Response Frosty Cache vs WP REST Cache, same host --- Live Results Both plugins cache. One skips WordPress entirely. Median response time across six WordPress REST API endpoints — post/page/category listings and single items — tested live against both demo sites. Both plugins beat an uncached response by a wide margin; the gap between them is the cost of the work each one still has to do on a cache hit. Median HIT response time per endpoint — live (ms, lower is better) Frosty Cache — drop-in WP REST Cache --- Raw Numbers Every endpoint, both plugins, live. All times in milliseconds, median. MISS on both sites uses a per-request cache buster to force a fully uncached response. HIT is a normal repeat request. See Methodology below for why WP REST Cache’s HIT numbers required extra isolation to measure fairly. | Endpoint | Plugin | Mode | min | avg | median | p95 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | wp/v2/posts (list) | Frosty Cache | MISS | 1272 | 1385 | 1384 | 1533 | | HIT | 610 | 757 | **735** | 1747 | | WP REST Cache | MISS | 1281 | 1640 | 1557 | 2193 | | HIT | 779 | 1068 | **872** | 2993 | | wp/v2/pages (list) | Frosty Cache | MISS | 1491 | 1562 | 1654 | 1741 | | HIT | 746 | 874 | **874** | 1929 | | WP REST Cache | MISS | 1564 | 1982 | 1805 | 3897 | | HIT | 821 | 942 | **939** | 1048 | | wp/v2/categories (list) | Frosty Cache | MISS | 1243 | 1421 | 1402 | 2213 | | HIT | 602 | 720 | **729** | 765 | | WP REST Cache | MISS | 1213 | 1331 | 1329 | 1457 | | HIT | 632 | 759 | **764** | 842 | | wp/v2/posts/{id} | Frosty Cache | MISS | 1198 | 1349 | 1354 | 1463 | | HIT | 589 | 754 | **725** | 1751 | | WP REST Cache | MISS | 1229 | 1448 | 1371 | 2311 | | HIT | 773 | 907 | **819** | 1761 | | wp/v2/pages/{id} | Frosty Cache | MISS | 1247 | 1387 | 1384 | 1469 | | HIT | 599 | 713 | **715** | 752 | | WP REST Cache | MISS | 1312 | 1435 | 1368 | 1974 | | HIT | 639 | 895 | **807** | 1854 | | wp/v2/categories/{id} | Frosty Cache | MISS | 1258 | 1408 | 1400 | 1491 | | HIT | 603 | 723 | **727** | 735 | | WP REST Cache | MISS | 1209 | 1484 | 1372 | 2744 | | HIT | 763 | 906 | **791** | 1854 | One WP REST Cache sample (`categories/{id}` HIT) returned a single 300-second outlier out of 10 requests — a stalled connection on the shared host, not a caching event. It’s excluded from the average/p95 shown for that row; the median (791ms, from the other 9 samples) is unaffected and is what’s charted above. --- Coverage Same core API. Different reach. WP REST Cache’s own documentation scopes it to default WordPress REST API GET endpoints, custom post types, and manually registered custom endpoints — it doesn’t mention the WooCommerce Store API or CoCart. That’s confirmed live: on the WP REST Cache demo site, `wc/store/v1/products` takes the same ~1.6s on every request, with no cache-layer speedup at all. Frosty Cache caches both out of the box via dedicated compatibility modules — see the [WooCommerce](https://frostycache.com/woocommerce-benchmark/) and [CoCart](https://frostycache.com/cocart-benchmark/) benchmark pages for live numbers there. | Route family | Frosty Cache | WP REST Cache | | --- | --- | --- | | wp/v2 (posts, pages, categories, …) | HIT | HIT | | wc/store/v1 (WooCommerce Store API) | HIT | Not cached by default | | cocart/v2 (CoCart) | HIT | Not cached by default | | Custom endpoints | Automatic for any GET | Manual registration required | --- Methodology How these numbers were measured. Two live demo sites, same host provider, same host-level configuration, same content and theme — one with Frosty Cache active, one with WP REST Cache active. Nothing else changed between them. ### 🔍 An extra layer, isolated - The WP REST Cache demo site runs an nginx-level microcache in front of WordPress, with a short (~3–6 second) TTL — a host-level layer, not something WP REST Cache itself controls - That layer wasn’t present on the Frosty Cache demo site - Measuring through it would credit WP REST Cache with speed from a caching layer it doesn’t own - Fix: identical requests spaced 10 seconds apart, well past the microcache’s TTL, so nginx always shows `EXPIRED`/passthrough while WP REST Cache’s own (longer-lived) cache stays warm — isolating the plugin’s actual contribution ### ⚗️ Test method - 6 WordPress REST API endpoints — post/page/category lists and single items - MISS: 15 requests per endpoint, each with a unique cache-busting parameter - HIT: 10 requests per endpoint, 10 seconds apart, identical URL - `curl --time-total` end-to-end, median reported --- Also See More benchmarks Local and live results for the WordPress core REST API, the WooCommerce Store API, and CoCart — including why WP REST Cache doesn’t reach either of the last two. [WordPress Core Benchmark →](https://frostycache.com/benchmark/) [WooCommerce Store API →](https://frostycache.com/woocommerce-benchmark/) [CoCart API v2 →](https://frostycache.com/cocart-benchmark/) --- ## Ready to see these numbers on your site? Drop-in installation. Works on any WordPress host. [See Pricing](https://frostycache.com/pricing/) [Read the Docs](https://frostycache.com/docs/)