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← Rankings

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

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 “back”, 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.

Ranked above its merit

Back Button Widget shows at wp.org #7 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 4K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 10 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Backup Migration places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 1338 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #1 2 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #4 ↓2 1 too low 4 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #8 ↑1 4 too low 5 Back In Stock Notifier for WooCommerce | WooCommerce Waitlist Pro 20K+ · 4.7★ (122) wp.org #3 ↑1 2 too high 6 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 Smooth Back To Top Button 40K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too high 8 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #11 ↑1 3 too low 9 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #17 ↓1 8 too low 10 Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1338) wp.org #22 ↓1 12 too low 11 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #20 ↓2 9 too low 12 Back To The Top Button 4K+ · 5.0★ (28) wp.org #9 ↓1 3 too high 13 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #16 ↓2 3 too low 14 Backuply – Backup, Restore, Migrate and Clone 600K+ · 4.5★ (135) wp.org #13 1 too high 15 Cart Abandonment Recovery for WooCommerce – Recover Lost Sales with Automated Emails 300K+ · 4.8★ (625) wp.org #14 ↑10 1 too high 16 WP Rollback – Rollback Plugins and Themes 200K+ · 4.9★ (215) wp.org #21 ↓1 5 too low 17 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #23 ↓6 6 too low 18 Back Button Widget 4K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #7 11 too high 19 Waitlist Woocommerce ( Back in stock notifier ) 4K+ · 4.6★ (113) wp.org #15 4 too high 20 MakeITeasy Back To Top 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 10 too high 21 Beam me up Scotty – Back to Top Button 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #18 ↑1 3 too high 22 Back and Forward Button 200+ · 3.8★ (4) wp.org #19 ↑4 3 too high 23 Instant Back/Forward 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 ↓1 11 too high 24 NS Smooth Scroll Back to Top 100+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #24 ↓2

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.