Plugin Pulse
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “amazon ses”

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 “amazon ses”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 2 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

Custom SMTP: Email Deliverability – FREE & Easy-to-use shows at wp.org #16 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 6 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 600K+ · 4.8★ (405) wp.org #1 2 Post SMTP – Complete Email Deliverability and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (525) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – The Most Popular SMTP and Email Log Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (5198) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 SureMail – SMTP and Email Logs Plugin with Amazon SES, Postmark, and Other Providers 200K+ · 4.7★ (25) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1432) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Easy WP SMTP – WordPress SMTP and Email Logs: Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Outlook, Custom SMTP, and more 500K+ · 4.6★ (707) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 WP Offload SES Lite 10K+ · 4.3★ (36) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 SMTP for Amazon SES – YaySMTP 3K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #3 5 too high 9 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1204) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too low 10 AcyMailing – An Ultimate Newsletter Plugin and Marketing Automation Solution for WordPress 5K+ · 4.8★ (157) wp.org #13 3 too low 11 YaySMTP – WP Mail SMTP with Email Logs, Tracking & Reports 10K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #11 12 Email Subscribers & Newsletters – Email Marketing, Post Notifications & Newsletter Plugin for WordPress 50K+ · 4.6★ (1169) wp.org #15 3 too low 13 Meow Mailer – Free SMTP, Everything Included 700+ · 4.9★ (17) wp.org #9 ↑1 4 too high 14 Solid Mail – SMTP email and logging made by SolidWP 60K+ · 4.2★ (52) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 WP EXtra – One Click Optimize 6K+ · 4.9★ (41) wp.org #24 ↓1 9 too low 16 Bit SMTP – Easy SMTP Solution with Email Logs 2K+ · 3.9★ (15) wp.org #14 ↑2 2 too high 17 MailerPress – Email Marketing, Newsletter, Email Automation & WooCommerce Emails 1K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #21 ↓2 4 too low 18 Simple SMTP by Maileroo 700+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #20 ↓3 2 too low 19 Pro Mail SMTP 300+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #23 ↓1 4 too low 20 SMTP Mail Control for MailPoet 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 ↑1 1 too high 21 Fullworks Simple Setup for Amazon SES 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↑4 4 too high 22 Custom SMTP: Email Deliverability – FREE & Easy-to-use 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↓2 6 too high 23 A API Mailer for AWS SES 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↓4 2 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.