Honest rankings: “backup”
WordPress.org search rewards raw install count with no ceiling, so the biggest install bases float to the top regardless of quality signals. Here's what searchers actually see, next to a merit ranking that caps the install factor and weights ratings by review volume. How this works →
Install-weight distortion
Jetpack – WP Security, Backup, Speed, & Growth sits at wp.org #2 but earns only #11 on merit , 98% of its ranking comes from install count alone, on 3M+ installs at just 3.8★.
Buried gem
WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – The Most Popular SMTP and Email Log Plugin deserves #3 on merit but wp.org shows it at #20 , 4.8★ from 5153 reviews, buried by lower-quality plugins with bigger install counts.
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.