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← Rankings

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

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 “analyze”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Crowdsignal Forms shows at wp.org #9 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 200K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) – Quiz Maker & Survey Maker places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 1282 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #1 2 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (758) wp.org #5 ↑19 1 too low 5 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #10 ↑3 5 too low 6 SmartCrawl SEO checker, analyzer & optimizer 10K+ · 4.8★ (171) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Link Manager – Analyze, Automate, and Monitor Links 1K+ · 4.4★ (10) wp.org #2 5 too high 8 SecuPress with Simple SSL – Simple and Performant Security 40K+ · 4.1★ (106) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too high 9 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) wp.org #14 ↓7 5 too low 10 Optimize Database after Deleting Revisions 60K+ · 4.7★ (181) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too low 11 Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) – Quiz Maker & Survey Maker 40K+ · 4.7★ (1282) wp.org #20 9 too low 12 Media Cleaner: Delete Unused Images & Clean Your Media Library 90K+ · 4.6★ (779) wp.org #18 ↓8 6 too low 13 Perfect Images: Regenerate Thumbnails, Image Sizes, WebP & AVIF 60K+ · 4.8★ (279) wp.org #16 ↑2 3 too low 14 Media File Renamer: Rename Images & Files for SEO (AI-Powered) 40K+ · 4.6★ (447) wp.org #17 3 too low 15 FluentCRM – Email Newsletter, Automation, Email Marketing, Email Campaigns, Optins, Leads, and CRM Solution 80K+ · 4.8★ (250) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 Aurora Heatmap 10K+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #6 ↓1 10 too high 17 Metricool – Social media and site statistics 90K+ · 4.4★ (23) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 Internal Links Manager 10K+ · 4.8★ (33) wp.org #24 ↓1 6 too low 19 Known Agents – Track AI Bots and Crawlers, Block Scrapers, Analyze LLM Referral Traffic 1K+ · 4.8★ (6) wp.org #11 8 too high 20 Track, Analyze & Optimize by WP Tao 600+ · 4.9★ (17) wp.org #21 ↓4 1 too low 21 Aruba HiSpeed Cache 100K+ · 3.0★ (10) wp.org #12 ↑2 9 too high 22 Crowdsignal Forms 200K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #9 13 too high 23 Url Rewrite Analyzer 400+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↓4 24 BoldGrid Easy SEO – Simple and Effective SEO 40K+ · 3.0★ (3) wp.org #22 ↓1 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.