Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “auditing”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 3 plugins are 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

Record of Consent Extension for Complianz shows at wp.org #7 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 700+ 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

Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups places #6 on merit, 4.9★ from 701 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Mail Logging 300K+ · 4.7★ (375) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Sucuri Security – Auditing, Malware Scanner and Security Hardening 600K+ · 4.2★ (386) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #3 4 WP Mail Log 10K+ · 4.9★ (66) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Email Log 80K+ · 4.2★ (43) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups 20K+ · 4.9★ (701) wp.org #12 6 too low 7 Advanced File Manager – Ultimate File Manager for WordPress And Document Library Solution 100K+ · 4.8★ (441) wp.org #13 ↑2 6 too low 8 WPConsent – Cookie Banner & Cookie Consent for Privacy Compliance (GDPR / CCPA / EU Compliance Cookie Notice) 200K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging 90K+ · 4.8★ (292) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 Pressidium Cookie Consent 10K+ · 4.7★ (40) wp.org #10 11 WPVulnerability 10K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #11 12 Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker – WCAG, ADA, EAA and Section 508 compliance 10K+ · 4.9★ (80) wp.org #14 ↑2 2 too low 13 GDPR 10K+ · 4.3★ (58) wp.org #18 ↑2 5 too low 14 Oasis Workflow 600+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #20 ↑1 6 too low 15 Send Users Email – Email Subscribers, Email Marketing Newsletter 5K+ · 4.5★ (28) wp.org #17 ↑2 2 too low 16 GoSMTP – SMTP for WordPress 500K+ · 4.3★ (10) wp.org #6 10 too high 17 Shipi – DHL Express Integration for Woocommerce 100+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #15 ↓2 2 too high 18 Record of Consent Extension for Complianz 700+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #7 11 too high 19 Search Atlas SEO – OTTO AI SEO Automation for WordPress 7K+ · 3.3★ (24) wp.org #19 ↓1 20 WP Spell Check 2K+ · 2.9★ (39) wp.org #22 ↑1 2 too low 21 Edroz Libro de Reclamaciones 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 widgetIQ for Elementor 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↑1 1 too high 23 Security Headers 800+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #16 ↑1 7 too high 24 Auditizer – AI Website Audit & Optimization 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.