Harrys Gravatar Cache
by Harry Milatz · Performance
Accelerates the site speed by simply and effective caching Gravatar (Globally Recognized Avatars).
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 47/100
Stale · Likely abandoned · Few reviews
Active installs
200+
≈250 estimated
Momentum
+40%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: “avatar”, “cache” and “gravatar” 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.
47 health vs 69 average across 1,808 Performance plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →1.3%
of downloads still active
At least 200 of 16K lifetime downloads are still running, in line with 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.
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 1742 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 5.9.20; the current branch is 6.8
5.0★ over 4 reviews, smoothed to 4.17★ and held back under 25 reviews
4 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Last updated 1742 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.
30
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.8
Velocity
places per keyword, 26d
0%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 26d
0.0
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| avatar your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| cache your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| gravatar your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| php7 your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
4 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 0 listed. 4 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
- “avatar”, “cache” and “gravatar” 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 · 1,487 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 138 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank
Ranked about #11,300 to #12,900, alongside the other plugins at 200+ 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
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
5.5y ago
latest release · v2.0.2 · 28 Apr 2021
55
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 88% 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 “200+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 9 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 1 Feb 2016
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ Nazar Hotsa9.7y ago
Great plugin. Works out of the box, gets the job done. Deserves 6 stars 🙂
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ yoshimitsu12349.8y ago
Worked perfectly.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Pothi Kalimuthu9.8y ago
By default, WordPress pings gravatar for an updated image. How often do people change their image? Probably, once a month. So, one doesn’t need calls to gravatar every 5 minutes. Go ahead and install this plugin. Your visitors will be happy with the speed of your site! Thanks Harry for your time on creating and maintaining this plugin.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ roggershaw10.8y ago
Better than all Gravatar Caching Plugins. Thanks Harry.
Read on wp.org ↗
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.4.8 · WP 5.7.1
Languages
via translate.wordpress.orgTranslated into 112 languages, 4 at 90% or more · development strings
Plus 88 more locales with partial translations.
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
5 of 8 pass · checked 28 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "Accelerates the site speed by simply and effective caching Gravatar (Globally Recognized Avatars)."
- ! Has a FAQ No FAQ section.
- ! FAQ asks real questions No FAQ to judge.
- ! Names who it is for Never says who the plugin is for or what they use it for.
- ✓ Names what it works with Mentions Jetpack, Multisite, Facebook.
- ✓ Headings and lists 2 headings and 2 lists.
- ✓ Enough to quote 1,931 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text 3 of 4 tags appear in the text; "php7" does not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-01-28 300+ → 200+ down after 14 days in tier
- 2026-01-14 200+ → 300+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2026-01-13 300+ → 200+ down after 538 days in tier
- 2024-07-24 400+ → 300+ down after 2 days in tier
- 2024-07-22 300+ → 400+ up after 14 days in tier
- 2024-07-08 400+ → 300+ down after 155 days in tier
- 2024-02-04 500+ → 400+ down after 2 days in tier
- 2024-02-02 400+ → 500+ up after 4 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).
-
FV Gravatar Cache 600+ installs · 3.9★ · 3 shared tags C -
Simple Local Avatars 100K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags A -
One User Avatar | User Profile Picture 100K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags A -
User Profile Picture 40K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags A -
Basic User Avatars 20K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags C -
Simple User Avatar 20K+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Harrys Gravatar Cache into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/harrys-gravatar-cache" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Harrys Gravatar Cache — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Harrys Gravatar Cache: 200+ active installs, 5.0★ (4 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/harrys-gravatar-cache
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