Question 1

What does Cache-Control stale-while-revalidate mean?

Accepted Answer

stale-while-revalidate=N means that after max-age expires, the browser will serve the stale cached response immediately for up to N seconds while it fetches a fresh copy in the background. Users see no delay — they get the old version while the new one downloads.

Question 2

What is the difference between no-cache and no-store?

Accepted Answer

no-cache means the browser must revalidate with the server before using a cached response (it can still cache). no-store means the browser must not cache the response at all — it fetches fresh on every request.

Cache-Control Simulator