Laravel Cache – Complete Guide with Examples

Caching is one of the best ways to speed up your Laravel application. Some operations, like fetching large datasets or running complex calculations, can be CPU-heavy or time-consuming. Instead of running them every time, Laravel allows you to store results temporarily in a fast storage system like Redis or Memcached — and serve them instantly.

1. Why Use Cache in Laravel?

• Improved speed – Serve data instantly without re-processing.
• Reduced database load – Fewer queries mean better performance.
• Scalable – Handles high traffic more efficiently.
• Flexible drivers – Supports Redis, Memcached, Database, DynamoDB, MongoDB, etc.

2. Laravel Cache Configuration

Laravel’s cache configuration is in:

config/cache.php

Here you can:

• Set default cache driver
• Configure multiple stores
• Enable/disable cache events

Supported Drivers:

• file – Stores data in files (default for local dev)
• database – Stores in a DB table
• memcached – Uses Memcached server
• redis – Uses Redis
• dynamodb – AWS DynamoDB table
• array – In-memory (for tests)
• null – No caching (disables cache)

3. Driver Setup

Database Cache

php artisan make:cache-table
php artisan migrate

Memcached

• Install PECL Memcached extension
• Configure in config/cache.php:

'memcached' => [
    'servers' => [
        ['host' => '127.0.0.1', 'port' => 11211, 'weight' => 100],
    ],
],

Redis

• Install:

composer require predis/predis

• Or enable PhpRedis extension
• Configure in config/database.php → Redis section.

4. Basic Cache Usage

Storing Data

Cache::put('key', 'value', 600); // store for 10 minutes

Retrieving Data

$value = Cache::get('key', 'default');

Check if Key Exists

if (Cache::has('key')) { ... }

Retrieve and Store if Missing

$users = Cache::remember('users', 600, function () {
    return DB::table('users')->get();
});

Store Forever

Cache::forever('key', 'value');

Remove Item

Cache::forget('key');

5. Advanced Features

Stale While Revalidate

Serve slightly old data while recalculating fresh values:

$users = Cache::flexible('users', [5, 10], function () {
    return DB::table('users')->get();
});

Atomic Locks

Prevent race conditions:

Cache::lock('process', 10)->block(5, function () {
    // Only one process runs here
});

Memoized Cache

Avoid multiple cache hits in the same request:

$value = Cache::memo()->get('key');

6. Cache Helper Function

cache(['key' => 'value'], 600); // store
$value = cache('key'); // retrieve

7. Pro Tips

✅ Use tags if you want to clear related caches together
✅ For large apps, prefer Redis for speed
✅ Monitor cache size to avoid memory overflow
✅ Use remember instead of get + put to simplify code

8. Summary Table of Cache Methods

Best Practices

• ✅ Tag your caches – makes invalidation easier
• ✅ Use remember instead of get + put
• ✅ Avoid storing huge data objects
• ✅ Always set expiry unless permanent
• ✅ Clear cache during deployment if needed

Common Mistakes

❌ Forgetting to set expiry → stale data forever
❌ Overusing cache for tiny, cheap queries
❌ Not clearing cache after DB updates
❌ Using file cache in high-traffic environments

Real-World Use Cases

• Caching homepage data to reduce DB hits
• Storing API responses for external calls
• Caching user permissions for fast checks
• Locking background jobs to prevent duplication
• Storing computed analytics results

Cache Events

Laravel emits events for cache actions:

• CacheHit
• CacheMissed
• KeyWritten
• KeyForgotten
• CacheFlushed

You can listen to these to log or debug cache usage.

14. Performance Tips

• Use Redis for large apps
• Monitor hit/miss ratio
• Use cache tags for grouped data
• Pre-warm cache after deployment
• Avoid huge object serialization