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Surge

by Konstantin Kovshenin · Performance

Also makes 9 other plugins · 18.6K+ installs across the portfolio →

Surge is a very simple and fast page caching plugin for WordPress.

How scoring works →
89 Health · A
Maintenance 97/100
Rating quality 92/100
Support 70/100

89 health vs 67 average across 1,075 Performance plugins

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.

93 / 100

Excellent listing optimization

Well tuned across the board

Update recency 100/100
WP compatibility 100/100
Rating quality 88/100
Listing tuning 84/100

Daily downloads

Since 2022-10-05 · 1,425 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive

+24% vs prior 30d
22Downloads · Aug 26

30-day downloads

Rolling 30-day volume · peaks are release surges

1.0K

now · peak 4.0K

99730d downloads · Aug 26

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

Surge · #3545 you WP Super Cache · #38 Breeze Cache · #156 Cache Enabler · #455

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.

249per 1k installs · Aug 26

Release cadence

Occasionally updated
from wp.org release tags

How often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.

3

releases in the last 12 months

4mo ago

latest release · v1.2.1

8

tagged releases on record

Recent releases

1.2.1 · 4mo ago1.2.0 · 5mo ago1.1.0 · 11mo ago1.0.5 · 2.9y ago1.0.3 · 4.6y ago1.0.2 · 4.6y ago1.0.0 · 4.7y ago0.1.0 · 4.7y ago

What its installed base runs

via wordpress.org

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin · 72% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

v1.2 72%
v1.1 23%
v1.0 5.3%

Estimated active installs

The public count shows “4K+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.

tracked estimate
4K–5K ≈4.8K

Refined from the date this plugin crossed into its current band.

Install history · since 2022-06-26 · 1,423 observations

4KInstalls · Aug 26

Estimated value

What this plugin might earn a year, and what it might sell for. Modeled from public signals; we don't see anyone's books.

Est. annual revenue

N/A

Est. acquisition value

N/A

No paid tier is visible, so we don't put a figure on revenue or sale value: that would be guessing. The install base is a real asset to an acquirer, just not one public data lets us price. A small install base leaves thin data to model from.

Details

Version
1.2.1
Last updated
4mo ago
Added
2021-12-03 · 4 yrs old
Requires WP
5.7
Tested up to
7.0.4
Requires PHP
7.3

Recent reviews

All reviews on wp.org ↗
  1. adamshand
    8mo ago

    Love this plugin. Works great and couldn’t be simpler.Thank you!

    Read on wp.org ↗
  2. Marko Dimitrijević
    1.2y ago

    Absolutely blown away by Surge! This plugin is a game-changer for WordPress performance. I saw an instant boost from 74 to 78 on PageSpeed Insights compared to another caching plugin, simply by activating it. The claim of generating static HTML for quicker requests, faster load times, and a shorter TTFB is spot on. What truly sets it apart is the zero-configuration – it just works out of the box, making it incredibly user friendly. The load test results mentioned are impressive, and it’s clear this plugin delivers on its promises. Huge thanks to Konstantin Kovshenin for this fantastic, no-nonsense performance solution!

    Read on wp.org ↗
  3. skeeterseatery
    2.5y ago

    I wanted to extend my deepest appreciation for your invaluable contribution. Your Surge Cache plugin has revolutionized the performance of my website. Amidst the challenges of compatibility issues between FlyingPress and WP Rocket with Sucuri WAF, your plugin emerged as the beacon of hope. Previously, grappling with other caching plugins led to severe CPU spikes, pushing my site to the brink of breakdowns. While perfmatters provided some relief, I still needed a lightweight page cache plugin to navigate peak traffic periods seamlessly. Enter your Surge Cache plugin. Its seamless integration with my site has not only bolstered its speed but also its overall performance. I am now confident that my website remains steadfast and responsive even during the busiest of times. Thank you, from the depths of my heart, for crafting such an exceptional tool. Your unwavering dedication to enhancing website functionality is truly commendable. With warm regards, Greg

    Read on wp.org ↗
  4. silzsyk
    2.9y ago

    Hello, for this plugin to work must the fpassthru function be activated or not? There is a difference? This topic was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by silzsyk.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  5. Anonymous
    3.1y ago

    Over the years, I’ve looked at all the top caching plugins, and never found one that I liked. They were either too complex, too finicky, or tried to do too many things. Surge just works, and it works great. Update: I ran some basic performance testing of the same sample content with and without Surge activated.Surge increased my Requests per second by a factor of 21x and reduced my time per request by a factor of 25x. Beyond that, Konstantin has been amazing as far as support goes for a free plugin. Besides addressing issues and requests, he’s gone above-and-beyond at helping work through issues, to the point of looking at where we are using Surge and making additional configuration recommendations. If it were possible to give 6 stars, I would! This topic was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by Jason LeMahieu (MadtownLems). This topic was modified 2 years, 5 months ago by Jason LeMahieu (MadtownLems).

    Read on wp.org ↗
  6. Timi Wahalahti
    3.6y ago

    This plugin works! Install, activate, and check WP_CACHE value and boom – your site is fast!One nice feature that is happening under the hood is caching of specific REST API requests. That makes, for example, dynamic parts of the site with javascript filtering blazingly fast.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  7. James
    3.9y ago

    I almost gave up on finding a WP cache plugin that ONLY did that… cache! Everything is bloated with minify, CDN, image optimize, and a bunch of features I just don’t need because we have those taken care of otherwise.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  8. SickNick
    4.4y ago

    I’m using it for 1 month on different sites with different themes and plugins, and some big ones over 150-200GB. Works just perfect!

    Read on wp.org ↗

Latest updates

via wp.org changelog

Recent releases and news for this plugin

  1. Version 1.2.1 Bug fix in SURGE_ config constants Add support for SURGE_CONFIG_CALLBACK 1.2.1
  2. Version 1.2.0 Added fpassthru_alt configuration option for compatibility with hosts that do not support fpassthru Added the cache status to the event system Added a CLI status command Added support for SURGE_ configuration constants U 1.2.0
  3. Version 1.1.0 Improved Multisite compatibility Fixed occasional stat() warnings in cleanup routines Fixed expiration by path being too broad Added a filter for flush actions Feature: added a simple events system for s-maxage and stale 1.1.0
  4. Version 1.0.5 Fix woocommerce_product_title compatibility Honor DONOTCACHEPAGE constant Use built-in is_ssl() WordPress function for better compatibility 1.0.5
  5. Version 1.0.4 Add a WP-CLI command to invalidate/flush page cache Fix redirect loop with Core’s redirect_canonical for ignore_query_vars Fix warnings for requests with empty headers Fix warnings when cron cleanup attempts to read a fi 1.0.4
  6. Version 1.0.3 Invalidate cache when posts_per_page is changed Fix redirect loop with unknown query vars caused by Core’s redirect_canonical Ignore X-Cache and X-Powered-By headers from cache metadata Allow multiple headers with the sa 1.0.3

Behavioral tests

via WP Hive

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0.1

Low memory footprint
Low page-speed impact
Runs on latest PHP + WP
No PHP errors
No JS errors
Activates cleanly
No resource errors
No external HTTP errors
Optimized database use
Frequently updated

Languages

via translate.wordpress.org

Translated into 10 languages, 7 at 90% or more

Chinese (Taiwan) 100%
Dutch 100%
German 100%
Portuguese (Brazil) 100%
Russian 100%
Spanish (Chile) 100%
Spanish (Spain) 100%
Greek 31%
Romanian 21%
Italian 5%

Growth timeline

Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow

  1. 2025-10-24 3K+ → 4K+ up after 2 days in tier
  2. 2025-10-22 4K+ → 3K+ down after 1 days in tier
  3. 2025-10-21 3K+ → 4K+ up after 671 days in tier
  4. 2023-12-20 2K+ → 3K+ up

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).

Compare head to head →

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Preview card ↗

Surge: 4K+ active installs, 4.9★ (31 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-08-29. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/surge