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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “anonymous data”

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 “anonymous data”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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 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

Whistleblowing & Contact Form – Secure, Anonymous, Drag & Drop Builder shows at wp.org #6 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress places #12 on merit, 4.6★ from 1205 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Data Access – App Builder for Tables, Forms, Dashboards, Charts & Maps 10K+ · 4.9★ (88) wp.org #1 2 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #2 3 WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (759) wp.org #3 ↑2 4 Poll Maker by AYS – Versus Polls, Anonymous Polls, Image Polls 6K+ · 4.4★ (91) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too low 6 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #9 ↓1 3 too low 7 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too high 8 GDPR Cookie Compliance – Cookie Banner, Cookie Consent, Cookie Notice for CCPA, EU Cookie Law 300K+ · 4.6★ (205) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too low 9 Product Feed Manager for WooCommerce – CTX Feed – Support 220+ Shopping, AI & Social Channels 90K+ · 4.6★ (838) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too low 10 Favorites 10K+ · 4.6★ (133) wp.org #13 ↑1 3 too low 11 Object Data Sync for Salesforce Integration with WP, Woo, Gravity, WPForms, Ninja, CF7 & more 100+ · 4.9★ (23) wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too high 12 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 wpForo Forum 20K+ · 4.7★ (390) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 Rate My Post – Star Rating Plugin by FeedbackWP 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #16 ↑2 2 too low 15 Confetti – Celebration Effects for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (49) wp.org #14 ↓1 1 too high 16 IP2Location Country Blocker 30K+ · 4.1★ (128) wp.org #17 ↓1 1 too low 17 Simple Comment Editing 2K+ · 4.8★ (55) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #18 19 Anonymous Restricted Content 900+ · 4.3★ (9) wp.org #12 7 too high 20 Albacross – B2B Website Visitor Identification 1K+ · 4.8★ (24) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #21 ↑2 22 Whistleblowing & Contact Form – Secure, Anonymous, Drag & Drop Builder 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 ↑1 16 too high 23 VPN Guard – Block VPN, Proxy, Bots & Anonymous Visitors 200+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Pollify – Feedback Polls, Anonymous Polls, Up/down Voting, NPS Surveys, Export data 60+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #15 9 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.