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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “cache control”

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 “cache control”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 3 plugins are pushed down for signals wp.org ignores: errors, a host-installed base, or removal risk.

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

Ergonet Cache shows at wp.org #9 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Performance Score Booster – Optimize Speed, Enable Cache & Page Preload places #9 on merit, 4.6★ from 339 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #1 2 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #4 5 Content Control – The Ultimate Content Restriction Solution! Restrict Content, Create Conditional Blocks & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (575) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 SQLite Object Cache 10K+ · 5.0★ (51) wp.org #6 7 Powered Cache – Caching and Optimization for WordPress – Easily Improve PageSpeed & Web Vitals Score 3K+ · 4.8★ (58) wp.org #7 ↑12 8 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #18 ↑3 10 too low 9 WP Performance Score Booster – Optimize Speed, Enable Cache & Page Preload 10K+ · 4.6★ (339) wp.org #23 ↓1 14 too low 10 Hyper Cache 7K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #15 ↓2 5 too low 11 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #20 ↓3 9 too low 12 SpeedyCache – Cache, Optimization, Performance 500K+ · 4.4★ (30) wp.org #11 1 too high 13 Hestia Nginx Cache 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 Aruba HiSpeed Cache 100K+ · 3.0★ (10) wp.org #5 9 too high 15 Proxy Cache Purge 50K+ · 4.4★ (26) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too low 16 S Server-Side Cache AutoPurge 10K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #10 6 too high 17 C3 Cloudfront Cache Controller 3K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #12 ↓4 5 too high 18 Module Control for Jetpack 1K+ · 4.8★ (11) wp.org #22 ↑1 4 too low 19 The Cache Purger 1K+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too high 20 Cache Using Gzip 400+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Ergonet Cache 3K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 12 too high 22 Disable CSS JS Cache 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too high 23 Cache control by Cacholong 500+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓1 7 too high 24 Clear Cache Everywhere 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓1 5 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.