CSS Optimizer – Remove Unused CSS
by wooncherk · Performance
Clean up and remove unused CSS from your website. Also generates Critical CSS to improve PageSpeed Score.
Try it live opens a temporary test site in your browser, which can take about 20 seconds to load. Plugins that rely on outside services or a full server may not work completely there.
Health
D 43/100
Stale · Likely abandoned · Few reviews
Active installs
100+
≈150 estimated
Momentum
+29%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: “autoptimize”, “critical css” and “css” aren't earning a slot. You list them, but you're not in the first 24 results for those searches. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so free the slot for a search you can win.
43 health vs 69 average across 1,806 Performance plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →0.9%
of downloads still active
At least 100 of 11.1K lifetime downloads are still running, below its category: the median Performance plugin keeps 1.4%, across 1,104 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Performance plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
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 4+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
- Falling behind WordPress. Tested up to WordPress 5.9.20.
Details
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
Most to gain: Update recency
Updated 1691 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 5.9.20; the current branch is 6.8
3.7★ over 6 reviews, smoothed to 4.06★ and held back under 25 reviews
4 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Last updated 1691 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.
Get the full rank-higher report →Search visibility
How it's tracked →Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.
Not enough tracked days yet to call a direction. Momentum needs at least three keywords measured a week or more apart.
wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.
| Keyword | wp.org | On merit | wp.org move, 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| autoptimize your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| critical css your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| css your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| speed your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
2 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 0 listed. 2 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 4 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- “autoptimize”, “critical css” and “css” aren't earning a slot. You list them, but you're not in the first 24 results for those searches. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so free the slot for a search you can win.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,488 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 434 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank
Ranked about #13,300 to #16,400, alongside the other plugins at 100+ installs. Plugins with the same install count swap places between wp.org requests, so this is where most of them sit. Checked monthly, last on 1 Nov 2026.
Rating trend
Star average over time · dips mark rough releases
Update activity
How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.
Release cadence
No release in a yearHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
0
releases in the last 12 months
4.6y ago
latest release · v1.7 · 16 Mar 2022
7
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 100% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “100+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 23 months ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 50% of the way through.
Install history since 22 May 2022
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ Bahus3.7y ago
The plugin simply catastrophically eats up space on the hosting.The site is 5.9 gigabytes. Of these, 3.9 gigabytes is occupied by the plugin cache in the wp-content folder.It’s not an optimizer plugin, it’s a pest plugin.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ rvs21414.4y ago
After installing plugin, my site is completely broken, had to restore it with beckup.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ jhui1235.0y ago
Good to use
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ yifan995.0y ago
User friendly. So easy to use
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ huirulee145.0y ago
My website has a lot of unused CSS, by using this CSS optimizer. Mine CSS size decreased around 90%. Users-Friendly with a good design.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ phewlau5.0y ago
This plugin has drastically helped my site! Before using the plugin, Google’s PageSpeed Insights keeps flagging my site with “Reduce Unused CSS” and “Eliminate render-blocking resources”. What more can you ask for a free plugin? This topic was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by phewlau.
Read on wp.org ↗
AI assistants
How it's measured →Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.
Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.
Readme readiness
4 of 8 pass · checked 1 Nov 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "Clean up and remove unused CSS from your website. Also generates Critical CSS to improve PageSpeed Score."
- ✓ Has a FAQ 3 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 3 of 3 read like questions a user would type.
- ! Names who it is for Never says who the plugin is for or what they use it for.
- ! Names what it works with Names no plugin, service or platform it works with.
- ! Headings and lists 0 headings and 0 lists; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ! Enough to quote 990 characters of description; under 1,000 there is little to quote.
- ✓ Tags match the text 3 of 4 tags appear in the text; "autoptimize" does not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2024-12-09 200+ → 100+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2024-12-08 100+ → 200+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2024-12-07 200+ → 100+ down after 492 days in tier
- 2023-08-03 300+ → 200+ down after 20 days in tier
- 2023-07-14 200+ → 300+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2023-07-13 300+ → 200+ down after 19 days in tier
- 2023-06-24 200+ → 300+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2023-06-23 300+ → 200+ down after 262 days in tier
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).
-
Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS 200K+ installs · 4.6★ · 2 shared tags A - P Performance Optimization: Order Styles and Javascript 70+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags D
-
WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ installs · 4.9★ · 1 shared tag A -
Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ installs · 4.1★ · 1 shared tag A -
Cloudflare 200K+ installs · 3.5★ · 1 shared tag B -
Simple Custom CSS Plugin 100K+ installs · 4.7★ · 1 shared tag C
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for CSS Optimizer – Remove Unused CSS into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/css-optimizer-remove-unused-css" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="CSS Optimizer – Remove Unused CSS — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> CSS Optimizer – Remove Unused CSS: 100+ active installs, 3.7★ (6 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-01. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/css-optimizer-remove-unused-css
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