Cached Pages vs Archived Pages: What Is the Difference

A cached page is a temporary copy kept so a page loads faster or can be seen when the site is down; it's replaced whenever the page changes. An archived page is a permanent, dated snapshot kept on purpose, so you can see how a page looked at a point in time. Since Google stopped showing cached pages, archives are the main way to see an old version.

Cached pages

• Search engine cache. Search engines keep a copy of each page they crawl. Google used to show it through a "Cached" link and the cache: search operator. It removed both in 2024, saying pages now load reliably enough that the feature wasn't needed.
• Your browser's cache. Chrome stores pieces of pages you visit (images, scripts, styles) so they load faster next time. It isn't meant for browsing old versions, and it's cleared regularly.
• CDN caches. Services like Cloudflare keep copies of sites near visitors for speed. Some can show a cached copy when the site's server is down.

A cache only ever holds the latest copy. Once the page changes, the old version is gone from it.

Archived pages

• The Wayback Machine at web.archive.org has billions of captures going back to the 1990s. Each capture is kept with its date, so you can step through a page's history.
• archive.today (archive.ph) saves single pages on request and is often used for news articles and social posts.

Archives keep many versions, don't overwrite old ones, and anyone can view them.

How to see an old version of a page now

1. Paste the address into web.archive.org and pick a date from the calendar.
2. If there's nothing there, try archive.today.
3. For a page that's only just changed, other search engines may still show an older snippet or copy, but don't count on it.

Wayback Quick Access shows the latest archived copy of any page you're on in one click, and can save a new capture.

Which one you need

• The site is down right now: a cache or the most recent archive capture.
• The page changed and you want the old text: an archive, picking a date before the change.
• You want proof of what a page said: save it to an archive yourself now. See how Save Page Now works.