Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 post”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Easy Post Submission – Frontend Posting, Guest Publishing & Submit Content for WordPress shows at wp.org #3 but places #12 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 4K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress places #4 on merit, 4.7★ from 1511 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Public Post Preview 100K+ · 4.6★ (79) wp.org #1 2 Rate My Post – Star Rating Plugin by FeedbackWP 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #6 ↑3 3 too low 4 Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (1511) wp.org #11 7 too low 5 Frontend Post Submission Manager Lite – Guest Post and Frontend Submission Forms 1K+ · 4.5★ (22) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #12 ↑2 6 too low 7 Poll Maker by AYS – Versus Polls, Anonymous Polls, Image Polls 6K+ · 4.4★ (91) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #14 ↓2 6 too low 9 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #13 4 too low 10 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #10 ↓2 11 Solid Post Likes 500+ · 4.8★ (9) wp.org #5 6 too high 12 Easy Post Submission – Frontend Posting, Guest Publishing & Submit Content for WordPress 4K+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #3 ↓1 9 too high 13 Favorites 10K+ · 4.6★ (133) wp.org #15 ↑2 2 too low 14 Post My CF7 Form 2K+ · 4.8★ (48) wp.org #9 ↑1 5 too high 15 Page and Post Restriction 1K+ · 4.3★ (16) wp.org #8 ↓1 7 too high 16 Call Now Button – The Free Click to Call Button for WordPress 200K+ · 4.8★ (102) wp.org #21 ↑1 5 too low 17 Product Feed Manager for WooCommerce – CTX Feed – Support 220+ Shopping, AI & Social Channels 90K+ · 4.6★ (838) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #18 19 Really Simple Featured Video for Posts, Pages & WooCommerce Products 4K+ · 4.0★ (34) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too high 20 Anonymous Restricted Content 900+ · 4.3★ (9) wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too high 21 Disable Everything 30K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too high 22 VPN Guard – Block VPN, Proxy, Bots & Anonymous Visitors 200+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Restrict Anonymous Access 70+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 MaxLimits – Increase Maximum Upload, Post & PHP Limits 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↑1 5 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.