Easy Critical CSS
by Easy Critical CSS · Performance
Easily inject Critical CSS and Secondary CSS (with unused CSS styles removed) to improve site speed and performance.
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
B 81/100
Few reviews
Active installs
70+
≈72 estimated
Momentum
+20%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Swap “lighthouse” for “critical”. “lighthouse” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “critical” sits at #22 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
81 health vs 69 average across 1,808 Performance plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →2.1%
of downloads still active
At least 70 of 3.3K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Performance plugin keeps 1.4%, across 1,103 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.
This plugin shipped 11 releases in the last 12 months, and every existing install that updated counted as another download. wp.org publishes no split between first installs and updates, so we show the raw rate rather than guess at one.
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.
Excellent listing optimization
Most to gain: Rating quality
Updated 19 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.1.4, the current branch or newer
1.0★ over 1 review, smoothed to 4.04★ and held back under 25 reviews
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Too few reviews to rank on quality — nudge happy users to leave one.
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.
38
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.3
Velocity
places per keyword, 27d
17%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 27d
+0.3
Acceleration
recent half vs earlier
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| critical css your tag | #12 | #24 | 0 |
| critical | #22 | #24 | down 3 |
| unused css your tag | #23 | #24 | 0 |
| lighthouse your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| optimization your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| performance your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
8 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 3 listed. 5 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 3 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Swap “lighthouse” for “critical”. “lighthouse” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “critical” sits at #22 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
- One page off on “critical css”. #12 puts you just past the first ten results, where almost all the clicks stop. The gap to close is small.
Daily downloads
Since 23 Apr 2025 · 556 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 438 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank
Ranked about #18,200 to #19,000, alongside the other plugins at 70+ 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 21 Oct 2026.
Update activity
Downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites.
Not enough installs to measure. This needs at least 100 active sites; below that, a handful of downloads reads as tens of thousands.
Release cadence
Actively maintainedHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
11
releases in the last 12 months
19d ago
latest release · v1.4.10 · 12 Oct 2026
20
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 “70+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 2 months ago and a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, so the real count is still just over 70.
At the current install trend, crossing 80+ in roughly 88 days.
Install history since 29 Apr 2025
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ ccosmic12mo ago
we are receiving undesired Dashboard Notification to install this plugin. We do not know where this spamming tactic comes from and the Close notification button does not work. Shady, to say the least.
Read on wp.org ↗
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0
Languages
via translate.wordpress.orgTranslated into 2 languages, 0 at 90% or more
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
7 of 8 pass · checked 25 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "Easily inject Critical CSS and Secondary CSS (with unused CSS styles removed) to improve site speed and per..."
- ✓ Has a FAQ 8 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 8 of 8 read like questions a user would type.
- ! Names who it is for One audience phrase ("if you have"); say who the plugin is for and what they use it for.
- ✓ Names what it works with Mentions Cloudflare, WP Rocket.
- ✓ Headings and lists 2 headings and 5 lists.
- ✓ Enough to quote 3,558 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text 3 of 5 tags appear in the text; "lighthouse", "optimization" do not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-08-19 60+ → 70+ up after 2 days in tier
- 2026-08-17 70+ → 60+ down after 10 days in tier
- 2026-08-07 60+ → 70+ up after 26 days in tier
- 2026-07-12 70+ → 60+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2026-07-11 60+ → 70+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2026-07-10 70+ → 60+ down after 11 days in tier
- 2026-06-29 60+ → 70+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2026-06-28 70+ → 60+ down after 8 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).
-
AMP 300K+ installs · 3.8★ · 2 shared tags C -
Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS 200K+ installs · 4.6★ · 2 shared tags A -
Performance Lab 100K+ installs · 4.2★ · 2 shared tags A -
Asset CleanUp: Page Speed Booster 100K+ installs · 4.9★ · 2 shared tags A -
Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN 70K+ installs · 4.7★ · 2 shared tags A -
Optimization Detective 60K+ installs · 4.0★ · 2 shared tags B
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Easy Critical CSS into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/easy-critical-css" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Easy Critical CSS — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Easy Critical CSS: 70+ active installs, 1.0★ (1 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/easy-critical-css
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