wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “browser caching”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “browser caching”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

xSpeed Cache: AI-Powered Performance Hub with MCP, Caching & CDN shows at wp.org #10 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 22 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Translate WordPress with GTranslate places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 4962 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Prevent Browser Caching 10K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #1 2

LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #4 2 too low 3

Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #5 2 too low 4

Leverage Browser Caching 9K+ · 4.1★ (42) wp.org #2 2 too high 5

W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #6 ↑2 1 too low 6

WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7

WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #9 2 too low 8

Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #8 ↓1 9

Speed Up – Browser Caching 700+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #3 6 too high 10

Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #16 ↓5 6 too low 11

EWWW Image Optimizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1842) wp.org #14 ↓4 3 too low 12

WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #12 ↑1 13

Autoptimize 800K+ · 4.7★ (1428) wp.org #17 ↓2 4 too low 14

Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #23 9 too low 15

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #13 2 too high 16

Powered Cache – Caching and Optimization for WordPress – Easily Improve PageSpeed & Web Vitals Score 3K+ · 4.8★ (58) wp.org #11 ↑3 5 too high 17

xSpeed Cache: AI-Powered Performance Hub with MCP, Caching & CDN 10K+ · 5.0★ (22) thin reviews wp.org #10 ↑2 7 too high 18

Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #24 6 too low 19

Loco Translate 1M+ · 4.8★ (453) wp.org #22 ↑1 3 too low 20

Breeze Cache 300K+ · 3.6★ (133) wp.org #15 ↑3 5 too high 21

WP BrowserUpdate 1K+ · 4.6★ (16) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↓2 3 too high 23

Disable CSS JS Cache 400+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too high 24

Solid Performance – Your No-Code Caching, Performance, & Page Speed Solution 4K+ · 4.3★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #18 ↓2 6 too high

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.