wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “add ons”
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 “add ons”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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
YAHMAN Add-ons shows at wp.org #2 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
MainWP Dashboard: Self-hosted WordPress Management for Agencies places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 2354 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
YITH WooCommerce Product Add-Ons 20K+ · 3.7★ (57)
wp.org #1 2 
TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #3 1 too low 3 
The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461)
wp.org #4 1 too low 4 
GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708)
wp.org #5 1 too low 5 
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #7 ↑2 2 too low 6 
Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463)
wp.org #10 ↑10 4 too low 7 
Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418)
wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too low 8 
BuddyPress 90K+ · 4.1★ (375)
wp.org #8 ↓1 9 
User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738)
wp.org #13 4 too low 10 
Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397)
wp.org #12 ↓1 2 too low 11 
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144)
wp.org #15 ↑1 4 too low 12 MainWP Dashboard: Self-hosted WordPress Management for Agencies 20K+ · 4.9★ (2354)
wp.org #23 11 too low 13 
Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1644)
wp.org #21 ↑1 8 too low 14 
Comments – wpDiscuz 60K+ · 4.7★ (581)
wp.org #18 ↓3 4 too low 15 
WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (758)
wp.org #14 ↑3 1 too high 16 
Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270)
wp.org #17 ↑1 1 too low 17 
MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites 700K+ · 5.0★ (71)
wp.org #11 ↓1 6 too high 18 
PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322)
wp.org #24 ↓3 6 too low 19 
Back In Stock Notifier for WooCommerce | WooCommerce Waitlist Pro 20K+ · 4.7★ (122)
wp.org #20 ↑3 1 too low 20 YAHMAN Add-ons 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #2 18 too high 21 
Responsive Starter Templates – Elementor Templates & Starter Sites 10K+ · 4.5★ (39)
wp.org #19 2 too high 22 
Conditional Logic for Woo Product Add-ons 400+ · 4.0★ (4) thin reviews
wp.org #6 16 too high 23 
Gravity Forms CLI Add-On 20K+ · 4.4★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #22 1 too high 24 
WPInterface Add-ons 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews
wp.org #16 ↓2 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.