What Is a Hard Refresh?

A hard refresh clears your browser cache for a specific page, which forces it to load the most recent version of that page. This could include new scripts, styles or features. Important: Clicking the "Refresh" arrow on your browser address bar is not a hard refresh.

What is the difference between refresh and hard refresh?

Ctrl + R is considered a soft refresh that reloads the page from the cache. A hard refresh ignores the cache and requests a new set of pages from the server, which ensures any updates are reflected. To do a hard refresh, press Shift + Ctrl + R.

Is hard refresh same as clear cache?

In the case of a Hard Reload, the browser does not use anything in the cache and is forced to re-download everything. It is the same as using Ctrl+F5. But if the web page loads additional resources via maybe a redirect, then it may load from the cache.