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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “object 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 “object caching”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Menu Caching shows at wp.org #9 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 8706 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 Redis Object Cache 500K+ · 4.5★ (179) wp.org #1 2 SQLite Object Cache 10K+ · 5.0★ (51) wp.org #2 3 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Docket Cache – Object Cache Accelerator 20K+ · 4.9★ (50) wp.org #3 ↑2 1 too high 5 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #5 ↑4 6 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #8 ↓2 1 too low 8 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #15 ↑3 7 too low 9 Autoptimize 800K+ · 4.7★ (1428) wp.org #17 ↓1 8 too low 10 Powered Cache – Caching and Optimization for WordPress – Easily Improve PageSpeed & Web Vitals Score 3K+ · 4.8★ (58) wp.org #10 ↑4 11 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #23 ↑1 12 too low 12 Post Types Order 600K+ · 4.5★ (296) wp.org #14 ↑1 2 too low 13 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #19 ↑1 6 too low 14 Object Cache 4 everyone 5K+ · 4.2★ (30) wp.org #6 ↓2 8 too high 15 xSpeed Cache: AI-Powered Performance Hub with MCP, Caching & CDN 10K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too high 16 Speculative Loading 70K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #12 ↓1 4 too high 17 SpinupWP 30K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #18 ↓1 1 too low 18 FastPixel Cache – Optimize Page Speed: Compress Images, Minify, Clean Database & CDN 4K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #24 ↓1 6 too low 19 APCu Manager 10K+ · 4.6★ (20) wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too high 20 Menu Caching 400+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #9 ↓1 11 too high 21 SpeedyCache – Cache, Optimization, Performance 500K+ · 4.4★ (30) wp.org #21 ↓2 22 Pods Alternative Cache 5K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #16 ↓3 6 too high 23 Object Cache for APCu – ZapCu 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↑1 3 too high 24 RunCache – Full-Page, Object, and Edge Caching 4K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 2 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.