Critical CSS and Javascript
by teamperformance · Uncategorized
Defer render blocking CSS and Javascript with the best Critical-CSS WordPress plugin
42 health vs 57 average across 9,958 Uncategorized plugins
Removal-risk signals
53/100Maintenance and integrity signals that tend to precede a WordPress.org removal. Not an official status, a heads-up to act.
- Long abandoned. No update in 6+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
- Falling behind WordPress. Tested up to WordPress 5.4.19.
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Under-optimized
Biggest win: Update recency
To rank higher: Last updated 2305 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.
Get the full rank-higher report →Daily downloads
Since 2022-10-05 · 1,381 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peaks are release surges
26
now · peak 70
Directory rank vs rivals
wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you
Downloads per 1k installs · 30d
Engagement proxy · release spikes are signal, a long slide is an aging base
Estimated active installs
wp.org reports only “10+”. The real number sits in this band.
Refined from the date this plugin crossed into its current band.
Install history · since 2022-10-04 · 1,378 observations
Details
Growth timeline
Install-band crossings we have observed, and how long each band took to outgrow
- 2024-10-05 20+ → 10+ down after 440 days in band
- 2023-07-23 30+ → 20+ down after 148 days in band
- 2023-02-25 40+ → 30+ down after 18 days in band
- 2023-02-07 30+ → 40+ up after 7 days in band
- 2023-01-31 40+ → 30+ down after 14 days in band
- 2023-01-17 30+ → 40+ up after 6 days in band
- 2023-01-11 40+ → 30+ down after 64 days in band
- 2022-11-08 50+ → 40+ down after 6 days in band
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach — closest match first
-
Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS 200K+ installs · 4.6★ · 1 shared tag A -
Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN 70K+ installs · 4.7★ · 1 shared tag A -
Page Speed Optimizer: HTTP/2 Push, Async JavaScript, and Defer CSS 6K+ installs · 4.5★ · 1 shared tag A -
CSS JS Manager, Async JavaScript, Defer Render Blocking CSS 1K+ installs · 4.7★ · 1 shared tag A -
Reduce Unused CSS Solution with Critical CSS For WP 1K+ installs · 3.8★ · 1 shared tag B -
CSS Optimizer – Remove Unused CSS 100+ installs · 3.8★ · 1 shared tag D
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<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/critical-css" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Critical CSS and Javascript — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Critical CSS and Javascript: 10+ active installs, 1.0★ (1 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-07-17. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/critical-css