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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “static css”

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 css”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

MAS Static Content shows at wp.org #3 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 10K+ 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 Super Cache places #11 on merit, 4.3★ from 1346 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Simply Static – The Static Site Generator 30K+ · 4.5★ (195) wp.org #1 2 SiteOrigin CSS 100K+ · 4.9★ (153) wp.org #2 3 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS 200K+ · 4.7★ (612) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN 70K+ · 4.7★ (1488) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4229) wp.org #10 ↑2 4 too low 7 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #12 ↑2 4 too low 9 Export WordPress Pages to Static HTML & PDF — Static Site Export 4K+ · 3.8★ (51) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #13 ↓3 3 too low 11 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #19 ↓2 8 too low 12 Add Admin CSS 10K+ · 4.9★ (35) wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too low 13 Fast Velocity Minify 30K+ · 4.6★ (195) wp.org #21 ↑3 8 too low 14 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #18 ↑5 4 too low 15 Visual CSS Style Editor 30K+ · 4.1★ (90) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too low 16 WP Remove Query Strings From Static Resources 3K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #8 8 too high 17 Staatic – Static Site Generator for WordPress 3K+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #16 ↑2 1 too high 18 Easy Optimizer – PageSpeed, Cache & Core Web Vitals (Unused CSS, Delay JS, Lazy Load) 1K+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #24 ↓3 6 too low 19 MAS Static Content 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 16 too high 20 Static Porter 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 14 too high 21 Disable CSS JS Cache 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 6 too high 22 Berq Used CSS – Remove Unused CSS Automatically 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too high 23 C CSS JS Files 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↓1 24 Remove Cookies From Static Resources 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↓2 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.