FAQ Errors & Troubleshooting

How to clear your browser cache properly

Support will often ask for this first, because a stale cached copy of a page is a surprisingly common cause of a fault that has already been fixed.

iFastHosting Support Team Updated 26 August 2026 4 min read Beginner

Your browser keeps a local copy of pages, images and stylesheets so it doesn't have to download them again on every visit. That is usually a good thing — it makes sites feel faster — but it also means that once a page has changed on the server, your browser can go on showing you the old version until that cached copy expires or you clear it yourself. When a fix you've made doesn't seem to have taken effect, this is one of the first things worth ruling out.

The quick version: a hard refresh

Before clearing anything permanently, try forcing the current page to reload from scratch:

Windows (Chrome, Firefox, Edge) — Ctrl + F5, or Ctrl + Shift + R.
Mac (Chrome, Firefox) — Cmd + Shift + R.
Safari on Mac — hold Shift and click the reload button, or enable the Develop menu (Safari > Settings > Advanced) and use "Empty Caches".

This forces that one page and its assets to be fetched fresh, which resolves the majority of "I fixed it but I still see the old version" situations without touching your browser's settings at all.

Clearing the cache properly, browser by browser

Google Chrome

Open the clear browsing data screen
Menu (three dots, top right) > More tools > Clear browsing data — or go directly to chrome://settings/clearBrowserData.
Choose "Cached images and files"
Untick everything else if you only want to clear the cache and keep your saved passwords and history.
Set the time range and clear
Choose "All time" to be thorough, then click "Clear data".

Mozilla Firefox

Open the privacy settings
Menu > Settings > Privacy & Security, or go to about:preferences#privacy.
Find "Cookies and Site Data"
Click "Clear Data", then tick only "Cached Web Content" if you want to leave your cookies and logins untouched.
Confirm
Click "Clear" to finish.

Safari

Open Settings
Safari > Settings > Advanced, and tick "Show features for web developers" if it isn't already on.
Use the Develop menu
A new "Develop" menu appears in the menu bar — choose "Empty Caches" from it.

Microsoft Edge

Open clear browsing data
Menu (three dots) > Settings > Privacy, search, and services, or go to edge://settings/clearBrowserData.
Choose "Cached images and files"
Leave other options unticked if you only want the cache cleared.
Clear now
Click "Clear now" to finish.

The fastest test of all

Open the page in a private or incognito window instead of clearing anything. A private window starts with no cache, so if the page looks correct there, you've confirmed the fix works and the only remaining issue is your normal browser's stored copy.

If clearing your cache doesn't change anything

That result is useful, not a dead end — it tells you the problem is not sitting in your browser. Two likely places to look next:

A caching plugin or server-side cache on the site itself. If the site uses page caching, the server may be handing out a stale copy to every visitor, not just you. Clearing that cache is done from within the caching plugin or your hosting control panel, not your browser.
A CDN sitting in front of the site. A content delivery network keeps its own copies at locations around the world, entirely separate from both your browser's cache and the server's own cache, and needs to be purged separately.

If you've cleared your browser cache, tried a private window, and the old version is still showing everywhere, it's worth checking whether the site uses one of these before assuming the original fix failed. Our guide on why a site still shows the old version covers both in more detail, and support can confirm which caching layers are active on your account.