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← Rankings

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

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 “aio”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

AIO Tools (All in One Tools) shows at wp.org #6 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 100+ 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

Easy Accordion – AI-Powered FAQ & Accordion Blocks, Product FAQ places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 358 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #1 2 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #2 3 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 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 #7 2 too low 6 AIO Forms – Craft Complex Forms Easily 600+ · 4.9★ (34) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Meta Box – A Framework for Dynamic Websites 500K+ · 4.8★ (165) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too low 8 Bulk Auto Image Alt Text (Alt tag, Alt attribute) optimizer (image SEO) 10K+ · 4.2★ (111) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 All In One Login 60K+ · 3.6★ (35) wp.org #8 ↑2 1 too high 10 Easy Accordion – AI-Powered FAQ & Accordion Blocks, Product FAQ 70K+ · 4.9★ (358) wp.org #24 14 too low 11 Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too high 12 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #14 ↑1 2 too low 13 Greenshift – animation and page builder blocks 70K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #15 ↑1 2 too low 14 Newsletters 2K+ · 4.7★ (246) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 Conversios – GA4, Google Ads & Meta Conversion Tracking with Product Feed for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.3★ (206) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 Linguise – AI Automatic Multilingual Translation 1K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 Zoho Flow – No-Code Workflow Automation 5K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #18 ↑2 1 too low 18 LLMagnet – AI Visibility & AI SEO for Claude, ChatGPT & More 600+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 All in One Time Clock Lite – Tracking Employee Time Has Never Been Easier 500+ · 4.6★ (8) wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too high 20 WPHH SECURE – AIO WordPress Security With File Locking & WP Hide Login 100+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #16 ↓2 4 too high 21 SEO for AI Search 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 ↑1 9 too high 22 AIO Tools (All in One Tools) 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 16 too high 23 AiO Podcast Studio: All-in-One Podcast Manager, Player & Publisher — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too high 24 Exclude Files for AIO WP Migration 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 4 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.