How To Setup CloudFlare With W3 Total Cache Plugin?

August 17th, 2016 | by Ravi Chahar || 2 Comments |

In the recent post, I have explained how to use free CloudFlare CDN for your website. Most of the people use the caching plugins to improve the speed of their website. On of the most famous caching plugins is the W3 Total Cache. It can reduce the page loading time of your website.

Are you thinking about using W3 Total Cache with CloudFlare? Is it possible? Well, you can do that with some integrations. In this post, I am going to walk you through to setup website on CloudFlare with w3 total cache. It would enhance the speed.

Why Using W3 Total Cache With CloudFlare Is helpful?

Many people think that if they have the caching plugin then what’s the need to use the CloudFlare. well, you should know that CloudFlare is a free service which protects your website from the malicious attacks. It can help you to minify your website.

The page size of the CSS, HTML, and Javascript files can be reduced. If you use it with the caching plugin then you would get the plus point. Your caching plugin would do the caching and the CloudFlare would do its work of minifying and spam protection.

As you know that W3 Total Cache is an amazing plugin with many features and advanced minifying settings. If you integrate it with the CloudFlare then it would be great for your website’s page loading time.

Setup Website On CloudFlare With W3 Total cache.

The question arises “how to setup CloudFlare with W3 Total cache?”. Well, there are a few steps to follow and you will have your website running fast on the web.

Step 1:- After creating the account on the CloudFlare and adding your website. You would have to find the API key of your account. You can find that from your profile present on the CloudFlare. Just click on the settings and scroll down.

You will see the API Key to access the CloudFlare APIs will be present. Use the Global API Key. Click on the “View API Key” and copy that key.

Step 2:- Now login to your WordPress admin panel and install the W3 Total cache plugin and do the required settings. If you have already installed the plugin then go to performance>>extensions.

You will see that a CloudFlare Extension will be present there. You just have to activate that extension. There is an option under the name to activate it or you can activate it by clicking and using the above option by drop down menu.

Step 3:- After enabling the CloudFlare extension you have to go to performance>>general settings. Scroll down the page and search for the “Network Performance & Security Powered By CloudFlare” section.

In this section, click on the enable checkbox and fill the email address using which you have created your CloudFlare account. Fill your domain name, and the API key you copied in the first step, paste it here.

Keep the rocket loader and the development mode off. You can use the minify settings from here or from the CloudFlare. After all the settings, click on the “save all settings” button.

NOTE:- If you are using the minify settings of the CloudFlare then don’t use the minify settings of the W3 Total Cache plugin.

After saving the settings if you see the status of successfully saved settings then congratulation, you have setup website on CloudFlare with W3 total cache plugin.

If you get any error then uncheck the “enable” option and then save the settings again. After saving all the settings, enable the CloudFlare again and you won’t see any error.

Is using W3 Total cache With CloudFlare Safe?

You don’t need to worry about anything. Just make sure that you don’t use the minify settings of both the platforms. Use only cloudFalre minify settings to minify CSS, HTML, and Javascript files.

Never user the minify settings of the plugin with the CloudFlare. You will see the effective results with the speed of your website. The combination of CloudFlare and W3 Total Cache plugin works every time. If you still face any difficulty then feel free to ask.