wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “best posts”

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 “best posts”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 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

Dynamic Month & Year into Posts shows at wp.org #14 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 8K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 18 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #1 2

Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 100K+ · 4.8★ (215) wp.org #2 3

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #4 1 too low 4

Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1012) wp.org #3 1 too high 5

Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #5 ↑2 6

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too low 8

User Submitted Posts – Enable Users to Submit Posts from the Front End 10K+ · 4.8★ (913) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too low 9

SchedulePress – Auto Post & Publish, Auto Social Share, Schedule Posts with Editorial Calendar & Missed Schedule Post Publisher 10K+ · 4.6★ (201) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too high 10

Product Feed Manager for WooCommerce – RexFeed – Sell on 200+ Shopping Channels 10K+ · 4.8★ (256) wp.org #8 ↑6 2 too high 11

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too low 12

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #20 ↑1 7 too low 14

Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #23 9 too low 15

WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565) wp.org #21 ↓2 5 too low 17

The Post Grid – Shortcode, Gutenberg Blocks and Elementor Addon for Post Grid 100K+ · 4.8★ (265) wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too low 18

Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172) wp.org #18 ↓1 19

Missed Scheduled Posts Publisher by WPBeginner 20K+ · 4.9★ (60) wp.org #16 3 too high 20

Rate My Post – Star Rating Plugin by FeedbackWP 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #22 2 too low 21

Dynamic Month & Year into Posts 8K+ · 5.0★ (18) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↓1 7 too high 22

Reorder Posts – Quick Post Type and Page Ordering 10K+ · 3.9★ (28) wp.org #15 7 too high 23

Auto Post Cleaner 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #24 1 too low 24

Latest Posts Block – Dynamic Posts Grid, Posts List, Posts Tile with Stunning Layouts for WordPress Blogs & Pages 6K+ · 4.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #17 7 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.