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← Rankings

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

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 “better”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 5 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

Better image sizes shows at wp.org #10 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

LiteSpeed Cache places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 2778 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 Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Better Search Replace 1M+ · 4.3★ (546) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots 10K+ · 4.8★ (142) wp.org #3 4 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 ACF: Better Search 40K+ · 4.9★ (165) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Better Font Awesome 60K+ · 4.5★ (88) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #11 ↑1 4 too low 8 Better Search – Relevant search results for WordPress 5K+ · 4.4★ (61) wp.org #8 ↑1 9 Customize WordPress Emails and Alerts – Better Notifications for WP 30K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #18 ↑1 9 too low 10 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #22 ↑2 12 too low 11 Better Robots.txt – AI-Ready Crawl Control & Bot Governance 5K+ · 4.5★ (102) wp.org #14 ↑1 3 too low 12 OG — Better Share on Social Media 20K+ · 4.8★ (216) wp.org #21 ↑1 9 too low 13 Better Block Editor (BBE) 6K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 Better Find and Replace – AI-Powered Suggestions 40K+ · 4.6★ (171) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 Better Click To Share – Shareable Quote Boxes for X (Twitter) 6K+ · 4.8★ (48) wp.org #16 ↑1 1 too low 16 WP 2FA – Two-factor authentication for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (184) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Better Plugin Compatibility Control 4K+ · 4.3★ (19) wp.org #9 ↑2 8 too high 18 WP Better Permalinks 1K+ · 4.9★ (26) wp.org #19 ↑1 1 too low 19 Better Post & Filter Widgets for Elementor 4K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #12 ↓4 7 too high 20 Better image sizes 2K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #10 10 too high 21 Better Payment – Instant Payments, Donations, Fundraising with Subscriptions & More 5K+ · 4.6★ (14) wp.org #13 ↑1 8 too high 22 Better Usability for WooCommerce 700+ · 4.9★ (21) wp.org #20 ↑1 2 too high 23 Better Chat Support for Messenger 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #17 ↑1 6 too high 24 Better Aria Label Support 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↑1 9 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.