wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “at reply”
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 “at reply”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 of the top 20.
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
Reply-To for WP_Mail shows at wp.org #9 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 15 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
WP Mail Logging places #10 on merit, 4.7★ from 375 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Comment Reply Email Notification 3K+ · 4.8★ (33)
wp.org #1 ↑1 2 
Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667)
wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 
bbPress 100K+ · 3.9★ (343)
wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too high 4 
Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262)
wp.org #4 ↓1 5 
Comments – wpDiscuz 60K+ · 4.7★ (581)
wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 
Chatway Live Chat – AI Chatbot, Customer Support, FAQ & Helpdesk Customer Service & Chat Buttons 30K+ · 5.0★ (775)
wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too low 7 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too high 8 
Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445)
wp.org #8 ↓1 9 
Custom Twitter Feeds – A Tweets Widget or X Feed Widget 100K+ · 4.8★ (401)
wp.org #10 1 too low 10 WP Mail Logging 300K+ · 4.7★ (375)
wp.org #14 ↑2 4 too low 11 
bbp style pack 6K+ · 4.9★ (100)
wp.org #13 ↑1 2 too low 12 
Postie 10K+ · 4.7★ (139)
wp.org #16 ↑3 4 too low 13 
SupportCandy – AI Customer Support Ticket System & Live Chatbot Agent 10K+ · 4.9★ (289)
wp.org #21 8 too low 14 
wpForo Forum 20K+ · 4.7★ (390)
wp.org #22 ↑1 8 too low 15 
hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88)
wp.org #15 ↓2 16 
reCaptcha by BestWebSoft 100K+ · 3.9★ (391)
wp.org #17 1 too low 17 
Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging 90K+ · 4.8★ (292)
wp.org #23 ↑1 6 too low 18 
Inline Image Upload for BBPress 3K+ · 4.6★ (65)
wp.org #19 ↑2 1 too low 19 
Comment Reply Email 500+ · 4.7★ (15) thin reviews
wp.org #11 ↑1 8 too high 20 
MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31)
wp.org #18 2 too high 21 
Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74)
wp.org #20 1 too high 22 
AI 60K+ · 4.2★ (10) thin reviews
wp.org #12 ↓1 10 too high 23 
forumAttachments for bbPress 6K+ · 4.3★ (26)
wp.org #24 ↓2 1 too low 24 Reply-To for WP_Mail 100+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #9 15 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.