wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “activate”
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 “activate”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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
Disable Lazy Load shows at wp.org #14 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 9K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 23 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 7519 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Spam Protection | Maspik 30K+ · 4.7★ (87)
wp.org #1 ↑1 2 
Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) not PHP-current
wp.org #3 1 too low 3 
Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) not PHP-current
wp.org #2 1 too high 4 
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408)
wp.org #4 5 
Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186)
wp.org #5 6 
All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720)
wp.org #6 ↓3 7 
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143)
wp.org #9 ↓3 2 too low 8 
WP 2FA – Two-factor authentication for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (184)
wp.org #7 ↑9 1 too high 9 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #8 ↓4 1 too high 10 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519)
wp.org #16 ↓1 6 too low 11 
Post Types Order 600K+ · 4.5★ (296)
wp.org #10 ↓3 1 too high 12 
Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053)
wp.org #17 ↑7 5 too low 13 
Slim Maintenance Mode 10K+ · 5.0★ (63)
wp.org #13 ↓4 14 
Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641)
wp.org #12 ↓4 2 too high 15 
Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157)
wp.org #11 4 too high 16 
Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS 200K+ · 4.7★ (612)
wp.org #22 6 too low 17 
FancyBox for WordPress 30K+ · 4.6★ (92)
wp.org #15 ↓4 2 too high 18 
Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491)
wp.org #23 ↓2 5 too low 19 
Duplicate Page 3M+ · 4.8★ (466)
wp.org #21 ↓3 2 too low 20 
Plugin Load Filter 7K+ · 4.8★ (52)
wp.org #19 ↓7 1 too high 21 Disable Lazy Load 9K+ · 4.5★ (23) thin reviews
wp.org #14 ↓4 7 too high 22 
Breeze Cache 300K+ · 3.6★ (133)
wp.org #24 2 too low 23 
Disable Application Passwords 3K+ · 5.0★ (9) thin reviews
wp.org #20 ↓3 3 too high 24 
AyeCode Connect 10K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews
wp.org #18 ↓4 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.