Yes, we previously used template caching because it was built into Symfony1 (an MVC PHP framework). Symfony2 now leaves caching to the HTTP Standard, plus integ

Yes, we previously used template caching because it was built into Symfony1 (an MVC PHP framework). Symfony2 now leaves caching to the HTTP Standard, plus integrates Akamai's ESI. Symfony specifically recommends Varnish for live projects. Memcache certainly has its place, but for me, Varnish is a plug-n-play solution that doesn't require code changes. Even with ESI, if you've already set HTTP Cache, you just need to set s-maxage per component. That's it. Then of course there's all the Varnish load balancing features that I haven't used. If my site didn't use logins, I'd definitely just go for Nginx + fastcgi_cache. People argue that Apache can do the same with the right tuning. But there's something to be said for a 5 minute VPS build by a complete novice that can serve 20,000 requests per second using about 10 lines of config code. I think this all becomes much more complicated for seriously large websites. That's where memcache/redis et al. join the party, potentially with Varnish.