Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “site cache”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 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

Aruba HiSpeed Cache shows at wp.org #11 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 100K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 10 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 1267 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. 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 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too low 7 Redis Object Cache 500K+ · 4.5★ (179) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 Docket Cache – Object Cache Accelerator 20K+ · 4.9★ (50) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too high 10 Cache Enabler 100K+ · 4.3★ (139) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #21 ↓7 10 too low 12 SQLite Object Cache 10K+ · 5.0★ (51) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 Breeze Cache 300K+ · 3.6★ (133) wp.org #9 4 too high 14 Powered Cache – Caching and Optimization for WordPress – Easily Improve PageSpeed & Web Vitals Score 3K+ · 4.8★ (58) wp.org #15 ↑1 1 too low 15 Restricted Site Access 10K+ · 4.8★ (62) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 WP REST Cache 10K+ · 4.9★ (42) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 Cache Warmer 1K+ · 4.8★ (19) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 SpeedyCache – Cache, Optimization, Performance 500K+ · 4.4★ (30) wp.org #19 ↑1 1 too low 19 Proxy Cache Purge 50K+ · 4.4★ (26) wp.org #17 2 too high 20 Hestia Nginx Cache 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 Aruba HiSpeed Cache 100K+ · 3.0★ (10) wp.org #11 10 too high 22 The Cache Purger 1K+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #22 ↑2 23 A Automatic Cache Flusher for W3 Total Cache 4K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↑1 7 too high 24 Ergonet Cache 3K+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.