Free forever on WordPress.org v1.0.5

Cache at the
speed of hardware

not at the speed of PHP

Static HTML served directly from disk before WordPress loads. Zero PHP execution, zero database queries on every cache hit.

19µs Bootstrap decision Budget: 2,000µs · 105× under
<5ms TTFB on cache hit PHP never invoked
99 PageSpeed mobile Real-world Apache test
0 DB queries on HIT Zero WordPress load
Architecture

The fastest request
is the one WordPress never sees

Apex intercepts every anonymous request before PHP loads. The decision takes 19 microseconds.

01 — CACHE HIT
Nginx serves HTML directly

Web server finds the cached file on disk and sends it to the browser. PHP never starts. WordPress never loads.

try_files $apex_cache @wordpress;
→ page.html.br served in <5ms
02 — CACHE MISS
Bootstrap decides in 19µs

Ultra-lightweight drop-in evaluates bypass conditions and generates the cache key. Zero DB queries, zero WP load.

BYPASS check: 0.5µs
Key hash: 13µs
Total: 19µs
03 — ASYNC WRITE
Response sent first, write after

WordPress renders once. Response reaches the browser. Cache is written asynchronously — user never waits for disk I/O.

fastcgi_finish_request()
→ atomic write (tmp→rename)
→ Brotli + Gzip variants
Environment Detection

Apex adapts to your server

At activation, Apex detects your environment and selects the fastest available serving method automatically.

LEVEL 1 — FASTEST
Nginx

Direct static file serving via try_files. PHP is never invoked on cache hits.

<5ms
LEVEL 2
Apache

RewriteRule to static files. Auto-configured on activation via .htaccess.

<8ms
LEVEL 3
LiteSpeed

Detected automatically. X-LiteSpeed-Cache-Control coordination built in.

<8ms
LEVEL 4 — UNIVERSAL
PHP Bootstrap

Works on any shared hosting. advanced-cache.php serves before WordPress loads.

<20ms
What's included — free forever

Every feature you need.
No artificial limits.

BASIC is a complete, production-ready cache engine. No upsell gates, no crippled features.

Tag-based invalidation

Edit post 42 — only pages containing post 42 are purged. Not the entire cache. SQLite tag index maps every cache entry to its WordPress content.

🔄
Cache warm after purge

Purged pages are immediately re-queued at priority 1. The next visitor gets a HIT, not a MISS. No cold cache after invalidation.

📦
Brotli pre-compression

HTML compressed at write time, not per-request. Both Brotli and Gzip variants stored. Zero CPU overhead on delivery.

🔒
Single-flight lock

flock(LOCK_EX|LOCK_NB) prevents thundering herd. If 100 requests arrive simultaneously for a cold URL, only one writes to cache.

🌐
Speculation Rules API

Browser prefetches the next page before the user clicks. Navigation feels instant. No other cache plugin implements this.

📊
ETag / 304 support

Clients with a valid cached copy receive a 304 Not Modified response. Bandwidth savings on returning visitors, zero content transfer.

🔍
Preload engine

Priority queue warms the cache proactively. Homepage first, then high-traffic pages, then sitemap. CPU-aware throttling pauses on high load.

🛡
Security hardened

Host header validation, path traversal prevention, SSRF protection on sitemap URLs, symlink guard on cache reads, signed log directory.

🎛
Dark-mode admin panel

Six tabs — Dashboard, Environment, Purge, Preload, Settings, Logs. Full ARIA compliance, keyboard navigation, zero external JS dependencies.

Measured · Verified · Reproducible

Numbers that don't lie

19µs
Bootstrap decision time
Budget: 2,000µs · 105× under
<5ms
TTFB — Nginx static serve
PHP never invoked on HIT
99
PageSpeed mobile score
Real-world Apache hosting
0
DB queries on cache HIT
Zero WordPress load
WP-CLI

Full DevOps command set

Every cache operation available from the terminal. Automate, script, deploy.

wp-cli — elpadoro-apex
$wp apex status# Environment + serving level
$wp apex purge --url=https://example.com/about/
$wp apex purge --tag=post:42# Surgical tag purge
$wp apex purge --all --yes# Emergency full purge
$wp apex preload --sitemap=https://example.com/sitemap.xml
$wp apex warm# Full queue from sitemap
$wp apex stats# Hit rate + top 10 URLs
$wp apex flush-logs
✓ Level 1: Static file serving — Nginx try_files active
✓ Hit rate: 94.2% — 6 cached pages — 0.65 MB
✓ Bootstrap decision: 19µs (budget: 2,000µs)
✓ TTFB: <5ms on cache HIT
Pricing

Start free.
Scale when ready.

BASIC has no artificial limitations. PRO adds Redis, CDN, and enterprise features.

Apex Basic
Free

Complete static cache engine. No limitations. No expiry. No credit card.

$0/yr
Free forever · WordPress.org
  • Static HTML cache engine
  • Nginx + Apache + LiteSpeed auto-config
  • Tag-based surgical invalidation
  • Brotli pre-compression
  • Preload engine with priority queue
  • Speculation Rules API
  • Full WP-CLI command set
  • Environment diagnostics + guided fix
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