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

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 “aggregate”, 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

Curator.io shows at wp.org #11 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 1039 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #1 2

Autoptimize 800K+ · 4.7★ (1428) wp.org #2 ↑1 3

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #5 2 too low 4

Post Views Counter 100K+ · 4.9★ (1238) wp.org #6 2 too low 5

bbPress 100K+ · 3.9★ (343) wp.org #4 1 too high 6

Query Monitor 200K+ · 4.9★ (470) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too low 7

WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too low 8

Juicer.io: Effortlessly embed, curate, and aggregate social media feeds into your website 8K+ · 4.2★ (29) wp.org #3 ↓1 5 too high 9 W WP Customer Reviews 20K+ · 4.3★ (528) wp.org #9 10

Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning 30K+ · 4.8★ (1039) wp.org #17 ↓1 7 too low 11

WP Google Review Slider 30K+ · 4.9★ (373) wp.org #18 ↑2 7 too low 12

Smart COD for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.6★ (52) wp.org #10 2 too high 13

WP-PostRatings 20K+ · 4.4★ (178) wp.org #14 ↓1 1 too low 14

Print, PDF & Email by PrintFriendly 20K+ · 3.8★ (237) wp.org #19 5 too low 15

WP Search with Algolia 7K+ · 4.5★ (24) thin reviews wp.org #13 ↑2 2 too high 16

PressForward 100+ · 4.6★ (11) thin reviews wp.org #15 ↓1 1 too high 17

WPSSO Ratings and Reviews 100+ · 4.8★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↑1 3 too low 18

Responsive Thumbnail Slider 1K+ · 4.4★ (23) thin reviews wp.org #23 ↑1 5 too low 19

Kitgenix CAPTCHA for Cloudflare Turnstile 700+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too high 20

Sitemap Generator 3K+ · 3.7★ (23) thin reviews wp.org #24 4 too low 21

Curator.io 2K+ · 4.2★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #11 10 too high 22

Interlinks Manager – Internal Links Optimizer 7K+ · 4.6★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #12 10 too high 23

WProofreader spell & grammar check plugin for WordPress 4K+ · 3.7★ (15) thin reviews wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too high 24

DevDome Media Cleaner: Remove Unused Images & Media Library Cleanup 500+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #21 3 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.