Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “static 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 “static cache”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Static Porter shows at wp.org #12 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 100+ 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

10Web Booster – Website speed optimization, Cache & Page Speed optimizer places #10 on merit, 4.6★ from 405 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 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #2 3 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #3 4 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Simply Static – The Static Site Generator 30K+ · 4.5★ (195) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too low 8 Cache Enabler 100K+ · 4.3★ (139) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 Breeze Cache 300K+ · 3.6★ (133) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 10Web Booster – Website speed optimization, Cache & Page Speed optimizer 60K+ · 4.6★ (405) wp.org #21 ↓2 11 too low 11 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #14 ↓1 3 too low 12 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #18 ↑6 6 too low 13 Comet Cache 20K+ · 4.4★ (108) wp.org #24 ↓3 11 too low 14 SpeedyCache – Cache, Optimization, Performance 500K+ · 4.4★ (30) wp.org #11 3 too high 15 xSpeed Cache: AI-Powered Performance Hub with MCP, Caching & CDN 10K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #19 ↑1 4 too low 16 Proxy Cache Purge 50K+ · 4.4★ (26) wp.org #17 ↓1 1 too low 17 Staatic – Static Site Generator for WordPress 3K+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 WP Remove Query Strings From Static Resources 3K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too high 19 The Cache Purger 1K+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too high 20 Aruba HiSpeed Cache 100K+ · 3.0★ (10) wp.org #10 10 too high 21 Cache Using Gzip 400+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #20 ↓2 1 too high 22 Disable CSS JS Cache 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 23 Static Porter 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 ↑5 11 too high 24 Clear Cache Everywhere 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↓1 8 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.