Chrome Has 6 Different Caches. Here's When to Clear Each One.

Chrome does not have one cache. It has at least six: the HTTP cache, the back-forward cache, the DNS cache, the service worker cache, the shader cache, and the code cache. The standard "Clear browsing data" dialog only touches one of them. Full disclosure: I built these tools as part of Zovo, a collection of Chrome extensions I maintain at zovo.one . Take my perspective accordingly. A stale CSS file causing a broken layout requires a different clearing method than a cached API response returning outdated data, which is different from a cached DNS entry pointing to the wrong server. I have spent enough time debugging Chrome behavior to know which cache to clear and when. When Clearing Cache Actually Helps Before you clear anything, verify cache is the actual problem. Clearing cache forces Chrome to re-download everything, which slows browsing until the cache rebuilds. Clear cache when: A website shows outdated content (old CSS, stale images, wrong layout) A web app is stuck in a broken