Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “301 redirection plugin”

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 “301 redirection plugin”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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 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

Advanced 301 and 302 Redirect shows at wp.org #12 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Encryption: Easy HTTPS / SSL & Free SSL certificate, HTTPS redirect places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 1146 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Redirection 2M+ · 4.4★ (703) wp.org #1 2 404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring 100K+ · 4.7★ (321) wp.org #2 3 301 Redirects – Redirect Manager 300K+ · 4.7★ (578) wp.org #3 4 Redirection 100K+ · 5.0★ (419) wp.org #4 5 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #5 6 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #10 ↑2 4 too low 7 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too low 8 SEO Redirection Plugin – 301 Redirect Manager 10K+ · 4.3★ (73) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 Simple 301 Redirects by BetterLinks – Easy Redirect Manager 100K+ · 3.8★ (162) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 WP Encryption: Easy HTTPS / SSL & Free SSL certificate, HTTPS redirect 50K+ · 4.9★ (1146) wp.org #18 ↑1 8 too low 11 301 Redirects & 404 Error Log 30K+ · 4.6★ (28) wp.org #7 4 too high 12 IP2Location Redirection 7K+ · 4.3★ (43) wp.org #9 3 too high 13 ThirstyAffiliates – Affiliate Links, Link Branding, Link Tracking & Marketing Plugin 30K+ · 4.6★ (251) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 SEO Engine – Smart SEO with AI, Schema & Redirection for WordPress 1K+ · 4.9★ (48) wp.org #15 16 All 404 Redirect to Homepage 200K+ · 4.1★ (96) wp.org #16 17 Redirect 404 to Homepage 60K+ · 4.6★ (24) wp.org #17 18 CrawlWP SEO – Complete WordPress SEO Plugin with AI, Indexing & Search Performance 30K+ · 4.7★ (62) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19 Trash Duplicate and 301 Redirect 900+ · 4.3★ (36) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 All In One Redirection 1K+ · 4.4★ (11) wp.org #13 ↓2 7 too high 21 Advanced 301 and 302 Redirect 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #12 ↑1 9 too high 22 Post Date Change Redirection 50+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Simple Redirection 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 9 too high 24 Post Redirection – 301, 404 Redirects 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 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.