Plugin Pulse
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “purge”

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 “purge”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 4 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

WSA – Website Accelerator Cache Purge shows at wp.org #8 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 200+ 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

CompressX — AVIF & WebP Converter, Media Replacement places #8 on merit, 5.0★ from 193 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. 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★ (2772) wp.org #1 2 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (513) wp.org #6 ↑1 4 too low 3 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (640) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Proxy Cache Purge 50K+ · 4.4★ (26) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2613) wp.org #12 ↑5 7 too low 6 Fast Velocity Minify 40K+ · 4.6★ (195) wp.org #10 ↓2 4 too low 7 Purge Varnish Cache 1K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 CompressX — AVIF & WebP Converter, Media Replacement 40K+ · 5.0★ (193) wp.org #17 ↓1 9 too low 9 Simple Revisions Delete 10K+ · 4.9★ (49) wp.org #19 ↑1 10 too low 10 Prevent Browser Caching 10K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #16 ↓1 6 too low 11 C Clear Cache for Me 40K+ · 4.8★ (29) wp.org #15 ↓1 4 too low 12 Nginx Helper 200K+ · 4.4★ (31) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 Nginx Cache Purge Preload 200+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #5 8 too high 14 FastPixel Cache – Optimize Page Speed: Compress Images, Minify, Clean Database & CDN 4K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #20 ↓1 6 too low 15 Cloudflare 200K+ · 3.5★ (180) wp.org #22 ↓1 7 too low 16 Nginx Cache 10K+ · 4.6★ (23) wp.org #21 ↑2 5 too low 17 The Cache Purger 1K+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #7 10 too high 18 Hestia Nginx Cache 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #23 ↑1 5 too low 19 S Server-Side Cache AutoPurge 10K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #18 ↓1 1 too high 20 SuperFlare – Cloudflare Cache, Auto Purge & Speed Optimization 60+ · 4.4★ (9) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 PixelParade Smart Purge for Breeze Cache 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↑1 12 too high 22 MAKcubes | No Revisions & Purge 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↑1 11 too high 23 WSA – Website Accelerator Cache Purge 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 15 too high 24 Media Purge 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↓1 10 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.