wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “attachments”
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 “attachments”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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
Auto Attachments Cleaner shows at wp.org #9 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 60+ 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
Menu Icons by Themeisle – Add Icons to Navigation Menus places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 851 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Download Attachments 8K+ · 4.5★ (46)
wp.org #1 2 A Attachments 8K+ · 4.8★ (53)
wp.org #2 3 
WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5210)
wp.org #8 ↑8 5 too low 4 
Autoremove Attachments 3K+ · 5.0★ (15) thin reviews
wp.org #3 1 too high 5 
WP Attachments – Smarter File Management & Download Lists 3K+ · 4.5★ (43)
wp.org #4 1 too high 6 
Media Library Assistant 70K+ · 4.8★ (202)
wp.org #11 ↑3 5 too low 7 
Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491)
wp.org #13 ↑10 6 too low 8 
Product Attachment for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.5★ (24) thin reviews
wp.org #5 ↑2 3 too high 9 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #15 ↓4 6 too low 10 Menu Icons by Themeisle – Add Icons to Navigation Menus 100K+ · 4.9★ (851)
wp.org #22 ↓1 12 too low 11 
forumAttachments for bbPress 6K+ · 4.3★ (26)
wp.org #7 ↓2 4 too high 12 
Notification Attachments for Gravity Forms 2K+ · 5.0★ (12) thin reviews
wp.org #6 6 too high 13 
BuddyPress 90K+ · 4.1★ (375)
wp.org #16 ↓3 3 too low 14 
Lightbox with PhotoSwipe 20K+ · 4.9★ (115)
wp.org #17 ↓5 3 too low 15 A Attachment Pages Redirect 10K+ · 4.9★ (47)
wp.org #14 ↓4 1 too high 16 
Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406)
wp.org #24 ↓7 8 too low 17 
WP Mail Logging 300K+ · 4.7★ (375)
wp.org #23 6 too low 18 
Export media with selected content (by DKZR) 40K+ · 4.5★ (93)
wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19 
Lightbox & Modal Popup WordPress Plugin – FooBox 100K+ · 3.9★ (95)
wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too low 20 
Smart Attachment Page Remove 900+ · 4.7★ (13) thin reviews
wp.org #12 8 too high 21 
Attachment Taxonomies 1K+ · 4.6★ (10) thin reviews
wp.org #10 ↓1 11 too high 22 Auto Attachments Cleaner 60+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #9 ↓1 13 too high 23 D Disable Attachment Pages 300+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #18 ↑1 5 too high 24 
Canonical Attachments 300+ · 3.7★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #20 ↓5 4 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.