Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “authorized”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 5 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

eRecht24 Legal Texts shows at wp.org #3 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 50K+ 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

Envira Gallery – Image Photo Gallery, Albums, Video Gallery, Slideshows & More places #8 on merit, 4.7★ from 1597 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Stop User Enumeration 60K+ · 4.9★ (132) wp.org #4 ↑2 1 too low 4 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #8 4 too low 5 Gmail SMTP 10K+ · 4.1★ (103) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 Password Protected 300K+ · 4.4★ (142) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591) wp.org #16 ↓1 9 too low 8 Envira Gallery – Image Photo Gallery, Albums, Video Gallery, Slideshows & More 100K+ · 4.7★ (1597) wp.org #23 ↓10 15 too low 9 Zoho Mail for WordPress 20K+ · 3.7★ (42) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 I IP Based Login 500+ · 4.9★ (23) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 Ads.txt & App-ads.txt Manager for WordPress 2K+ · 4.8★ (48) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 Wp-Insert 9K+ · 4.5★ (142) wp.org #14 ↑2 2 too low 13 Embed Any Document – Embed PDF, Word, PowerPoint and Excel Files 50K+ · 4.2★ (92) wp.org #20 ↑1 7 too low 14 WPO365 | MICROSOFT 365 GRAPH MAILER 10K+ · 5.0★ (40) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 WP OAuth Server (OAuth Authentication) 3K+ · 3.8★ (41) wp.org #15 ↓1 16 Secure Passkeys 2K+ · 4.8★ (19) wp.org #22 ↑1 6 too low 17 Log in with Google 6K+ · 4.6★ (17) wp.org #21 ↑1 4 too low 18 eRecht24 Legal Texts 50K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 15 too high 19 SiteSEO – SEO Simplified 400K+ · 4.0★ (8) wp.org #11 8 too high 20 Zoho ZeptoMail 5K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #17 3 too high 21 Satispay for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.0★ (8) wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too high 22 Tilopay 2K+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #13 ↓1 9 too high 23 Zodan Authorized Downloads 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↑7 11 too high 24 Divi Content Restrictor 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 6 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.