WordPress.org

Weston Ruter

WordPress Performance Team

This plugin was formerly called as “No-cache BFCache”, which admittedly was a poor jargony name and was too narrowly scoped.
This plugin enables instant back/forward navigation via the browser’s <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/bfcache" rel="nofollow ugc">bfcache</a>. It does this by removing the <code>no-store</code> directive from the <code>Cache-Control</code> response header, which WordPress sends by default when <code>nocache_headers()</code> is called. This happens primarily when a user is logged in, but some plugins may send these “no-cache” headers such as on the Cart or Checkout pages for an e-commerce site. Upon activation, to see the effect, you must log out of WordPress and log back in again, ensuring “Remember Me” is checked. Even so, another plugin, theme or server configuration may be active which makes pages <a href="https://web.dev/articles/bfcache#optimize" rel="nofollow ugc">ineligible for bfcache</a> due to other <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Performance_API/Monitoring_bfcache_blocking_reasons#blocking_reasons" rel="nofollow ugc">blocking reasons</a>. Nevertheless, the removal of <code>no-store</code> will still speed up back/forward navigations since pages may then be served from the browser’s HTTP cache, eliminating the need to re-download the HTML from the server. This is a feature plugin to implement <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/63636" rel="nofollow ugc">#63636</a> in WordPress core.
Blog post: <a href="https://weston.ruter.net/2025/07/23/instant-back-forward-navigations-in-wordpress/" rel="nofollow ugc">Instant Back/Forward Navigations in WordPress</a>
The speed of page navigations in WordPress saw a big boost in 6.8 with the introduction of <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/06/speculative-loading-in-6-8/" rel="nofollow ugc">Speculative Loading</a>. However, by default Speculative Loading in WordPress is not configured to enable instant page loads, which requires a non-conservative eagerness with the prerender mode; not all sites can even opt in to prerendering due to compatibility issues, such as with analytics, and due to concerns about sustainability with unused prerenders (e.g. increasing server load and taxing a user’s bandwidth/CPU). While Speculative Loading (i.e. the Speculation Rules API) is relatively new and currently only supported in Chromium browsers (e.g. Chrome and Edge), there is a much older web platform technology that enables prerendering and which is supported in all browsers: the back/forward cache (bfcache). This instant loading involves no network traffic and no CPU load, since previously visited pages are stored in memory. According to the web.dev article on <a href="https://web.dev/articles/bfcache" rel="nofollow ugc">back/forward cache</a>:
Chrome usage data shows that 1 in 10 navigations on desktop and 1 in 5 on mobile are either back or forward. With bfcache enabled, browsers could eliminate the data transfer and time spent loading for billions of web pages every single day!
Also learn more via the following video:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Debugging bfcache, make your page load instantly #DevToolsTips" width="750" height="422" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y2IVv5KnrmI?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Normally, WordPress sends a <code>Cache-Control</code> header with the <code>no-store</code> directive when a user is logged in. This has the effect of <a href="https://web.dev/articles/bfcache#minimize-no-store" rel="nofollow ugc">breaking the browser’s bfcache</a>, which means that navigating back or forward in the browser requires the pages to be re-fetched from the server and for any JavaScript on the page to re-execute. The result can be a sluggish navigation experience not only when navigating around the WP Admin (see <a href="https://github.com/Automattic/jetpack/pull/44322#:~:text=page%20load%20is%3A-,Without%20bfcache,-With%20bfcache" rel="nofollow ugc">Jetpack demo video</a> and demo video below) but also when navigating around the frontend of a site. Furthermore, the lack of bfcache can cause data loss when data has been entered via a JavaScript-built UI since this state is lost when a page is not restored via bfcache (see <a href="https://github.com/woocommerce/woocommerce/pull/58445#issuecomment-3014404754" rel="nofollow ugc">WooCommerce demo video</a> and demo video below).
The reason why the <code>no-store</code> directive was added in the first place was due to a privacy concern where an authenticated user may log out of WordPress, only for another person to access the computer and click the back button to view the contents of the authenticated page loaded from bfcache or the HTTP cache. (See <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/21938" rel="nofollow ugc">#21938</a>.) In practice this issue depends on the user being on a shared computer who didn’t exit the browser, and it requires the malicious user to act soon before the page is evicted from bfcache (e.g. Chrome as a <a href="https://developer.chrome.com/docs/web-platform/bfcache-ccns#:~:text=The%20bfcache%20timeout%20for%20Cache%2DControl%3A%20no%2Dstore%20pages%20is%20also%20reduced%20to%203%20minutes%20(from%2010%20minutes%20used%20for%20pages%20which%20don%27t%20use%20Cache%2DControl%3A%20no%2Dstore)%20to%20further%20reduce%20risk." rel="nofollow ugc">10-minute timeout</a>).
To address this privacy concern, a safeguard is in place to protect against restoring pages from bfcache and the HTTP cache after the user has logged out:
When authenticating to WordPress, a “bfcache session token” cookie is set along with the other authentication cookies. This cookie is not HTTP-only so that it can be read in JavaScript; it is a random string not used for any other purpose. When an authenticated page is served, this bfcache session token is included in the HTML as well as a script which reads the value of this cookie. When a user navigates away from the page and then navigates back to it, a script on the page checks if the current session token in the cookie matches the initial session token sent with the page. If they do not match (e.g. because the user has logged out or another user has logged in), then the contents of the page are cleared and the page is reloaded so that the contents are not available.
Since JavaScript is required to invalidate cached pages, the login form is extended to pass along whether scripting is enabled. Only when JS is enabled will the <code>no-store</code> directive be omitted from the <code>Cache-Control</code> response header. This ensures that users with JavaScript turned off will retain the privacy protection after logging out. Lastly, <code>no-store</code> is also only omitted if the user checked the “Remember Me” checkbox on the login form. Since it is highly unlikely a user on a shared computer would have checked this checkbox, this provides yet an additional safeguard (which may in the end prove excessive). A ✨ emoji is displayed next to the checkbox in a button that opens a popover that promotes the capability. If you want to opt out of this opt-in (and the sparkle) so that all logged-in users get bfcache, you can use the <code>nocache_bfcache_use_remember_me_as_opt_in</code> filter which you can use in a custom plugin or your theme:
<pre>add_filter( 'nocache_bfcache_use_remember_me_as_opt_in', '__return_false' );</pre>
When this plugin strips out the <code>no-store</code> directive, it also ensures that the <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Reference/Headers/Cache-Control#private" rel="nofollow ugc"><code>private</code> directive</a> is sent in its place: “The <code>private</code> response directive indicates that the response can be stored only in a private cache (e.g., local caches in browsers).” WordPress is already sending <code>private</code> as of <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/57627" rel="nofollow ugc">#57627</a>. This directive ensures that proxies do not cache authenticated pages. In addition to ensuring <code>private</code> is present, this plugin also adds <code>no-cache</code>, <code>max-age=0</code>, and <code>must-revalidate</code> while ensuring <code>public</code> is removed, all to further guard against any misconfigured proxy from caching the private response.
<h4>Demo: Navigating the WordPress Admin</h4>
Without bfcache:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Navigating the WordPress Admin without Back/forward Cache (bfcache)" width="750" height="563" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Cz-_L6q9ZRc?start=22&feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
With bfcache:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Navigating the WordPress Admin with Back/forward Cache (bfcache)" width="750" height="563" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z4dILiwe0Rk?start=27&feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<h4>Demo: Navigating the WordPress Frontend</h4>
Without bfcache: The drafted BuddyPress activity update is lost when navigating away from the page before submitting. The activity feed and Tweet have to be reconstructed with each back/forward navigation.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Navigating the WordPress Frontend without Back/forward Cache (bfcache)" width="750" height="563" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ko1w_SRlCig?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
With bfcache: The drafted BuddyPress activity update is preserved when navigating away from the page without submitting. The activity feed and Tweet do not have to be reconstructed when navigating to previously visited pages via the back/forward buttons.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Navigating the WordPress Frontend with Back/forward Cache (bfcache)" width="750" height="563" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bzGm6LcHHAs?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Instant Back/Forward


This is now a "must install" plugin for me on every site I work on. It's absolutely magical.


Magical

Enables back/forward cache (bfcache) for instant history navigations even when “nocache” headers are sent, such as when a user is logged in.

Scottie S

swte

Fred

Rajendra Zore

The need for Speed. Cache & Performance plugin for WordPress! 
You created it, we keep it fast! Did you know that…… 
You Have Just 3 Seconds To Impress Your Visitor. Don’t Lose It By Slow Loading. 95% of customer’s don´t wait if a website takes longer than 5-6 seconds to load! 
Yes, that´s a big number. 
People spend a lot of time and money on building websites and even more on marketing to get traffic… but what happens when those people come to your website and the website is slow to load? You lose sales. 
Slow loading websites lose visitors and sales. 
But we have a solution! Say goodbye to slow loading websites and say hello to Swift Performance Lite or Pro!
Get a complete <a href="https://swiftperformance.io/" rel="nofollow ugc">Cache & Performance</a> plugin for free or as a pro. 
Swift Performance will increase the loading speed of any WordPress website and provides an intelligent, modern caching system. You can even cache AJAX request, dynamic pages, and you can add exceptions (URL, page or content based rules).
Here are some of our most popular functions.
Caching. Page caching is working out of the box. It is compatible with WooCommerce, bbPress, Cloudflare and Varnish as well. It will boost your performance, improve SEO scores, and create a better user experience.
CSS and Javascript optimization. One of the most important thing for performance is optimize the delivery of static resources. Swift Performance not only combines and minifies the CSS files, but generates the Critical CSS for each page automatically. Also Javascripts (even inline scripts) can be combined, minified, and move to footer without any conflict. 
Huge combined javascript files may still be render blocking, however with our unique Async Execute solution, you can not only combine/minify the scripts, but you can run them individually as soon as a chunk has been downloaded – which provides incredibly fast JS execution, improves SEO scores and user experience.
Database Optimization. Keeping your database clean is extremely important for speed. Swift Performance has a built in DB Optimizer to clean expired transients, orphans, duplicated metadata, and spammy comments. You can also schedule every tasks. It has never been easier to keep your WordPress database clean.
Plugin Organizer. Plugins are a big part of WordPress, however sometimes not properly written plugins can cause performance issues. With Plugin Organizer you can disable plugins on certain pages, and let plugins run only where it is really necessary. You can set URL match, Frontend, Admin Pages, AJAX action rules and exceptions to get the best results.
Why you should install Swift Performance Lite? 
After reading this exhaustive features, you can probably imagine why Swift Performance is the best Cache & Performance solution for WordPress. 
It is both easy and powerful. Optimizing WordPress performance is not rocket science anymore. Our unique Setup Wizard will help you to configure the basic settings and improve WordPress performance.
We hear your voice! We are continuously improving the plugin, based on customer’s feedback & needs. This is one of the most important factors & mission. 
Give Swift Performance a try. 
Want to unlock more features? <a href="https://swiftperformance.io/" rel="nofollow ugc">Upgrade to our Pro version.</a>
Why should you upgrade to Pro? 
We added our secret ingredients to make a product for our professional users, the result is Swift Performance Pro.
Compute API. Compute API will speed up merging process and decrease CPU usage. Compute API also provides advanced JS minify, which should be used if default JS minification cause issues on your site. Compute API also provides Critical Font option, with that you can reduce font icon files’ size. This feature is essential for shared hosting users, as CPU usage is usually limited for shared hosting plans.
Critical Icon Fonts. With Critical Fonts feature you can select icons that you are actually using on your site, and generate customized icon font set from them. There is also a feature to search used icons in your theme/plugins, posts, options, etc. Once you selected the icons that you need, you can enqueue them with one click. If critical icon fonts are enqueued, the plugin will block the original version of the font CSS/font files.
Unlimited Image Optimizer. With Image Optimizer you can optimize every images on your site. It will scan the whole site, and pick up every image from themes, plugins and upload folder. Regarding that Image Optimizer is unlimited (no additional fees), you can save a considerable amount of money. You can select images individually, and run batch optimization. Default image quality can be specified in plugin settings, however you can overwrite it before starting the optimization on selected images.
Schedule DB Optimizer. Both Pro and Lite versions comes with Database Optimizer. However in Pro you can set scheduled optimization, so you won’t need to do it manually.
Whitelabel. With whitelabel option you can re-brand Swift Performance. You can change the plugin name, description, author, even the database prefix for the plugin.
Remote Cron. Pro version provides a Remote Cron option. If you set the remote cron, our API server will call wp-cron.php and run WP cronjobs as real cronjobs.
Extended WooCommerce Features. With Pro version you can’t just cache, but totally disable cart fragments AJAX calls. Pro also provide session cache, with that you can cache and preload dynamic pages like cart and checkout page for WooCommerce.
Continuous Plugin Updates. While Swift Performance Lite is maintained as well, these updates are only compatibility updates, however Pro version comes with regular updates which contains new features. Also Pro version has a Beta tester option, if you enable it, you will get updates more frequently.
FAQ 
Installation instructions
<ol>
<li>Upload the plugin files to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory, or install the plugin through the WordPress plugins screen directly.</li>
<li>Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ screen in WordPress</li>
<li>Run the Setup wizard, or use the Tools->Swift Performance screen to configure the plugin</li>
</ol>
Why should I use Swift Performance plugin? 
Swift Performance is an all-in-one WordPress performance booster plugin. It provides everything that you need to speed up your WordPress site (replacing several optimization plugins), and improve user’s website experience. 
Swift Performance is already running on 2.000+ websites and based on our customers’ feedback it is the fastest performance plugin on the market. 
With the Setup Wizard you can easily configure the plugin and in the same time you have power of setup & control of all settings manually.
Strange redirects 
If you have strange URLs in your analytics or you can see that the site redirects to an URL like this: 
https://www.yoursite.com/wp-content/cache/yoursite.com/desktop/unauthenticated/index.html 
This is caused by an improper order of htaccess rules. Probably you are using a force SSL or force www/non-www rule in htaccess. Please remove these rules from .htaccess, and insert them in Settings > General > Tweaks > Custom htaccess.
My website broke 
It is possible that one or multiple files generate conflicts when those are merged and/or minified. If you notice that you website doesn´t show correctly, you might disable merge scripts and styles.
High CPU Usage 
While Swift is generating the cache, the CPU usage can be higher than usual. Swift is using more aggressive optimization than any other plugin on the market and it needs some CPU. Usually it isn’t an issue and CPU usage can be increased temporarily, but if it goes back to normal after prebuild finished, you don’t need to worry about it. 
However, for large sites on relatively small server it can cause too high CPU usage temporarily. Actually, when the server is using CPU it is always using 100%. High usage means the CPU was used for a longer period. 
If CPU usage is constantly higher you may need check the configuration. It is recommended to:
<ul>
<li>Enable Compute API: Settings > General > Compute API</li>
<li>Enable Optimize Prebuild Only: Settings > Optimization > General > Optimize Prebuild Only</li>
<li>If you are not satisfied with Optimize Prebuild Only option, enable Optimize in background instead: Settings > Optimization > General > Optimize in Background.</li>
<li>Setting a low number of threads as maximum: Settings > Optimization > General > Maximum threads: set this to 2 or 1. 1 will make the pre-build a bit slow, so try 2 first.</li>
<li>Exclude third party CSS: Settings > Optimization > Styles> Exclude 3rd Party CSS.</li>
<li>Disable Generate Critical CSS as generating Critical CSS is the most CPU intensive process: Settings > Optimization > Styles> Generate Critical CSS.</li>
<li>Exclude third party JS: Settings > Optimization > Scripts > Exclude 3rd Party Scripts.</li>
<li>Set Cache Expiry Mode to Action based, if you are not using nonce or anything that can expire on frontend: Settings > Caching > General > Cache Expiry Mode: Action based.</li>
<li>Enable Prebuild Cache Automatically: Settings > Caching > Warmup > Prebuild Cache Automatically.</li>
<li>Setup lower Limit prebuild speed (recommended to use on limited shared hosting): Settings > Caching > Warmup > Prebuild Speed: Moderate (or Slow).</li>
<li>Exclude post types that you wouldn’t like to cache. Autoconfig should find most and exclude them automatically but you can can add them manually: Settings > Caching > Exceptions> Exclude Post Types.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Key Features</h4>
Quick Setup, Page Cache, Cache Preloading, Gzip Compression, Browser Caching, Remove Query Strings, Lazyload, Minify CSS, Minify JS, Combine JS/CSS, Async Execute Combined JS, Defer JS, CDN Support, Cloudflare Support, Varnish Support, Mobile Detection, Multisite Compatibility, Woocommerce Friendly, WPML Support, Cache For Logged In Users, Database Optimizer, Import/Export, DNS Prefetch, Critical CSS On The Fly, Plugin Organizer, Appcache, AJAX Cache, Proxy 3rd Party JS, Inline Small Images, Google Analytics Bypass, Heartbeat Control
<h4>Reviews</h4>
<a href="https://www.wpmediamastery.com/swift-performance-review-and-settings/" rel="nofollow ugc">Swift Performance Review</a> by WPMediaMastery 
<a href="https://www.alentejowebdesign.nl/wp-rocket-vs-swift-performance/" rel="nofollow ugc">Swift Performance Comparison</a> by Alentejo Webdesign
<h3>Easy Setup</h3>
<iframe loading="lazy" title="How to optimize your website with Swift Performance Lite" width="750" height="422" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BnOuFja2Klw?start=240&feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Swift Performance Lite

Swift Performance is a cache and performance booster plugin. It can speed up your site, improve SEO scores and user experience.

Instant Back/Forward vs Swift Performance Lite