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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “agencies”

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 “agencies”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 4 plugins are 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

Glow: maintenance & support management for agencies shows at wp.org #3 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 19 places. Its 800+ 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

Translate WordPress with Weglot 2.0 – Multilingual AI Translation places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 1940 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 MainWP Dashboard: Self-hosted WordPress Management for Agencies 20K+ · 4.9★ (2354) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too low 2 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too low 4 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #7 ↑2 2 too low 6 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #8 ↓2 2 too low 7 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #14 ↑1 7 too low 8 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #12 ↓1 4 too low 9 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (195) wp.org #10 ↓2 1 too low 10 Automattic For Agencies Client 20K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #1 9 too high 11 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #17 ↓3 6 too low 12 Translate WordPress with Weglot 2.0 – Multilingual AI Translation 50K+ · 4.8★ (1940) wp.org #21 9 too low 13 Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too high 15 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #20 ↓4 5 too low 16 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #9 ↓2 7 too high 17 Beaver Builder Page Builder – Drag and Drop Website Builder 100K+ · 4.7★ (394) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 WP Travel Engine – Tour Booking Plugin – Tour Operator Software 20K+ · 4.9★ (594) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1488) wp.org #24 ↓1 5 too low 20 MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites 700K+ · 5.0★ (71) wp.org #13 ↓1 7 too high 21 FluentBoards – Project Management, Task Management, Goal Tracking, Kanban Board, and, Team Collaboration 6K+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #23 ↓1 2 too low 22 Glow: maintenance & support management for agencies 800+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 ↓1 19 too high 23 Agency Toolkit 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓2 8 too high 24 WPZOOM Portfolio Lite – Filterable Portfolio Plugin 20K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 ↓1 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.