Why is Cloudways being unresponsive about this?

the link: https://wordpress.org/plugins/cache-enabler/

This is the only simple cache plugin, but I think is better to leave all plugins out too.

Just wanted to add my voice to the previous commenters. W3 is like the anti-CloudWays. Where CW is simple, easy, and straightforward; W3 is convoluted, complex, and hard to deploy correctly. It really needs to go. And there really needs to be a way to delete it completely, without having to FTP in and delete the extra files/folders it leaves.

The same with WordFence. iThemes Security is a much better plugin performance-wise and really hits some of the most important security vectors in WP.

Personally, I think there should be ZERO pre-installed plugins. The likelihood that the one you preinstall for everyone is going to be used correctly and beneficial to most of us, is very slim.

As a WP Rocket user I have started the trial for Cloudways only to find that W3 Total Cache is installed by default. And yes I have read the reasons why.

But you cannot even delete W3 completely via the WordPress plugin dashboard easily.

It leaves many files and folders behind.

So to remove this horrible plugin properly I would have to install WordPress and then immediately delete the plugin and enter FTP to delete all the excess junk it leaves behind before I can even start to use WordPress!

It seems ridiculous to not even offer a clean WordPress install to me!

I can use WP Rocket to enable Varnish quite effectively so do not need all this W3 hassle.

It's a shame as I really like everything else you have to offer. But I can really do without having W3 Total Cache forced upon me and having to hunt for all the rubbish it leaves behind and delete it manually after every single WordPress install.

Surely a clean WordPress install could be an option?
Maybe with a declaration giving your reasons why you don't advise it.

Then people who are serious about a clean platform to build from will be able to use your services without issue.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers.

W3 and wordfence has complicated settings. And lacking knowledge base here.

At least, you have recommended setting tab by tab.

Or better choose a simple one. We don't have headache setting up server.

But you gave us headache of setting up plugin.

Wrong setting will break up our websites.

These plugins are bloated, and break sites right and left. Is that optimal performance?

Is letting Wordfence triple the size of your db for no reason at all, a good thing?

We spin up a lot of site, sometimes 5 in a week. And this is manual labor we need every single time. Because these rubbish plugins are just bloat.

Please don't force plugins on us! It's so weird you would even do that.

W3 cache has probably been abandoned and is not compatible with latest WP versions.

Please stop this. RECOMMEND plugins to users, but let it be our choice if we actually wanna add something to our sites, and let us do it only if the project NEEDS it.

Remove default plugins all together.

It's super strange having these forced on every install. There's hardly a default set of plugins that are applicable to each project.

You want a plugin? Install it! Don't make all of us that spin up 10 sites per month manually sit and uninstall these rubbish plugins.

And in the case of W3 cache and Wordfence? Oh yeah, they are rubbish. Bloated crap that breaks sites right and left. Very unprofessional. There's way better alternatives to both if your project needs them... (Have you seen what Wordfence does with you database? Wow...)

Bottom line, don't have default plugins at all, let people install what they want

It has no effect on the functionality. The W3T Cache will have no effect.

Oh no. I just updated my cloudways install to PHP7. What will the affect be on my site?

Any news on this one?

I agree. I think it should be the user's choice which plugins they want. Not assumed that we want W3 and Wordfence.

Why exactly is it necessary to preinstall W3?

@cloudways can you please explain exactly what parts of W3 Total Cache are necessary for Varnish?

I ask because I personally do not like using W3 and instead I like to use WP Rocket or Hummingbird from WPMUDEV.

I'd like to know if I can uninstall W3 and use my preferred plugins and have them work with Varnish in the same way that W3 would have.

Thanks.

W3 total cache has issue with php 7.0

Any updates on this one? I would really like to move away from W3 Total Cache, especially since there are much better options out there.

WP Rocket is very simple, I'm using it. But I'm fine with w3 as long as there is a solid tutorial for every setting.

Good suggestions already here on Caching plugins (+1 for Wp Rocket). I think ultimately Cloudways team needs to figure out one of the more active and maintained caching solutions and work directly with the vendor so that the following needs are met:

- Page Caching
- Browser Caching
- SSL Integration
- Support for major plugins (WooCommerce, Magento...)
- Object Caching
- DB Caching

I'm not suggesting that all these things are handled by a single Wordpress plugin. I'm sure they could be handled in a combination of WP plugin + Serverside configuration such as Varnish or something else. Either way, the caching solution needs to be more robust and better documented so that those of us doing simple things all the way on up to complex application type needs are satisified.

Guys, please also cast your votes here:
"Have a proper caching solution for dynamic sites under SSL to load fast (woocommerce, etc)"

http://feedback.cloudways.com/forums/203824-service-improvement/suggestions/12420951-have-a-proper-caching-solution-for-dynamic-sites-u

Also learned that object caching can only work with Varnish on Cloudways. I have a dynamic site fully under https. As Varnish does not work under https, therefore object caching does not work with Cloudways. I have found Cloudways great so far, but no object caching under https is a major blow, forcing me to consider alternatives to Cloudways unfortunately.

I have just learned through your support chat that caching with Cloudways can only be done with W3TC. This used to be a great plugin but is no longer maintained. It kind of works but if Cloudways is serious about performance you guys have to come up with a more reliable caching solution.