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Breeze vs W3 Total Cache

Two WordPress plugins head to head: ranking, active installs, downloads and ratings, from our daily tracking of the WordPress.org directory.

Breeze

Breeze Caching & performance

by Cloudways

W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache Caching & performance

by BoldGrid

At a glance

W3 Total Cache leads the WordPress.org popular list today at #72, ahead of Breeze at #160. Over the last 7 days W3 Total Cache held its place and Breeze slipped 3 places. W3 Total Cache has the largest install base, roughly 3× the next: 900K+ active installs against 300K+ for Breeze. Downloads this week: Breeze 161,889 and W3 Total Cache 108,687. Ratings: Breeze 3.6★ from 126 and W3 Total Cache 4.4★ from 5,420 reviews.

Metric Breeze W3 Total Cache
Popular rank today #160 ▼ 3 #72
Active installs 300K+ 900K+
Downloads, last 7 days 161,889 108,687
Rating 3.6★ (126) 4.4★ (5,420)
Last updated Sep 9, 2026 Sep 4, 2026
Current version 2.5.15 2.10.6
Best rank on record #155 #71
Days in the top 50 0 0
On WordPress.org since Jul 2017 Jul 2009
Sites detected by our detector 6 4

Highlighted cells mark the strongest figure in each row. Rank and installs are from the latest WordPress.org capture; downloads are the last seven captured days.

Ranking history Lower is better

BreezeW3 Total Cache

Active installs

BreezeW3 Total Cache

Downloads per day

BreezeW3 Total Cache

Frequently asked questions

Which is more popular, Breeze or W3 Total Cache?

By active installs, W3 Total Cache: 900K+ sites run it against 300K+ for Breeze, according to WordPress.org figures captured on September 13, 2026.

Which ranks higher on WordPress.org, Breeze or W3 Total Cache?

W3 Total Cache, at #72 on the WordPress.org popular plugins list today, with Breeze at #160. The ranking reflects recent installs and moves daily, which is why this page shows the history rather than one snapshot.

Are Breeze or W3 Total Cache alternatives to each other?

Yes. All of them are caching & performance plugins, so a site would normally run one of them. The figures above show which one more WordPress sites choose and how that has changed over time.

Where do these numbers come from?

WordPress.org publishes each plugin’s active install count and its position on the popular list. This site records both every day, along with per-day downloads and ratings, so the charts above show how the plugins have moved over time rather than a single day.