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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “azure oauth”

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 “azure oauth”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

SMTP for Contact Form 7 shows at wp.org #12 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

How this rank is calculated

Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.

A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.

A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.

Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.

merit plugin wp.org
1 OAuth Single Sign On – SSO (OAuth Client) 6K+ · 4.9★ (327) wp.org #1 2 SAML Single Sign On – SSO Login 10K+ · 4.9★ (402) wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too low 3 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 ThinkRank SEO – AI SEO Plugin for SEO & Google Search Console 20K+ · 4.9★ (37) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too low 6 All-in-One Microsoft 365 & Entra ID / Azure AD SSO Login 600+ · 3.9★ (7) wp.org #2 4 too high 7 WPO365 | MICROSOFT 365 GRAPH MAILER 10K+ · 5.0★ (40) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Authorizer 7K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too high 9 S SSO for Entra ID 700+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #3 6 too high 10 miniOrange Embed Files for SharePoint/OneDrive 700+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #10 11 JWT Authentication for WP REST APIs 10K+ · 4.4★ (74) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 Meow Mailer – Free SMTP, Everything Included 1K+ · 5.0★ (26) wp.org #11 1 too high 13 Active Directory/LDAP Integration for Cloud & Shared Hosting Platforms 40+ · 4.9★ (39) wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too low 14 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too low 15 Dynamics 365 Integration 500+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #21 6 too low 16 WP Login and Register using JWT 100+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 ArchiveMaster – Auto Archive and Export Old Orders for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 Pro Mail SMTP 300+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #22 ↑1 4 too low 19 Guard Dog 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↓1 4 too low 20 DixonSMTP for Outlook & Microsoft 365 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 Login with Microsoft Entra ID 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 SMTP for Contact Form 7 1K+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #12 10 too high 23 Headless SSO Plugin for WP 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↑1 4 too high 24 SheetLink Forms for Google Sheets and Excel 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓1 4 too high

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.