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

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 “aws”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 4 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.

A

Ranked above its merit

API Mailer for AWS SES shows at wp.org #8 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 20+ 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 Activity Log places #10 on merit, 4.7★ from 490 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Backuply – Backup, Restore, Migrate and Clone 600K+ · 4.5★ (135) wp.org #1 ↑3 2 Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1645) wp.org #4 ↓3 2 too low 3 Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too high 4 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 WPAdmin AWS CDN 400+ · 4.7★ (53) wp.org #3 ↓1 2 too high 6 File Manager 1M+ · 4.6★ (1492) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Product Addons for Woocommerce – Product Options with Custom Fields 30K+ · 4.9★ (474) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 Optimole – Optimize Images | Convert WebP & AVIF | CDN & Lazy Load | Image Optimization 200K+ · 4.7★ (640) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 OAuth Single Sign On – SSO (OAuth Client) 6K+ · 4.9★ (327) wp.org #13 ↓4 4 too low 10 WP Activity Log 300K+ · 4.7★ (490) wp.org #21 ↓11 11 too low 11 Simply Static – The Static Site Generator 30K+ · 4.5★ (195) wp.org #20 ↓3 9 too low 12 Geolocation IP Detection 20K+ · 4.7★ (59) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 Ecwid by Lightspeed Ecommerce Shopping Cart 20K+ · 4.5★ (228) wp.org #18 ↑2 5 too low 14 Media Cloud Sync 1K+ · 4.9★ (13) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 FAZ Cookie Manager 3K+ · 5.0★ (30) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 GoSMTP – SMTP for WordPress 500K+ · 4.3★ (10) wp.org #6 10 too high 17 External files in Media Library 500+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #9 ↑12 8 too high 18 SMTP for Amazon SES – YaySMTP 3K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Mailster AmazonSES Integration 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #10 9 too high 20 C3 Cloudfront Cache Controller 3K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #17 ↓2 3 too high 21 Upcasted S3 Offload – AWS S3, DigitalOcean Spaces, Backblaze, MinIO Storage Integration 200+ · 3.4★ (10) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too low 22 Sync media with AWS S3 CloudFront 20+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #15 ↓7 7 too high 23 A API Mailer for AWS SES 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 ↑5 15 too high 24 Static Porter 100+ · 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.