wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “boost website”
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 “boost website”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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
WooCommerce PayPal Payments shows at wp.org #16 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 800K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.9★ average from 583 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS 200K+ · 4.7★ (612)
wp.org #1 2 
All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) not PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #2 3 
WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617)
wp.org #3 4 
Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514)
wp.org #4 ↑1 5 
10Web Booster – Website speed optimization, Cache & Page Speed optimizer 60K+ · 4.6★ (405)
wp.org #5 ↑1 6 
TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625)
wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too low 7 
Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) not PHP-current
wp.org #6 ↑2 1 too high 8 
Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962)
wp.org #10 2 too low 9 
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408)
wp.org #7 ↓3 2 too high 10 
Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699)
wp.org #13 ↑1 3 too low 11 
Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667)
wp.org #11 ↓4 12 
Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539)
wp.org #15 3 too low 13 
Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641)
wp.org #9 ↑2 4 too high 14 
ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051)
wp.org #17 ↑1 3 too low 15 
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387)
wp.org #22 ↓1 7 too low 16 
Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807)
wp.org #18 ↓5 2 too low 17 
Kirki – Freeform Page Builder, Website Builder & Customizer 500K+ · 4.5★ (81)
wp.org #12 5 too high 18 
Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528)
wp.org #24 6 too low 19 
Visual Composer Website Builder 30K+ · 4.6★ (220) heavy footprint
wp.org #20 1 too low 20 
FastPixel Cache – Optimize Page Speed: Compress Images, Minify, Clean Database & CDN 4K+ · 4.8★ (50) not PHP-current
wp.org #14 ↑3 6 too high 21 
Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #19 2 too high 22 
Social Boost: Giveaways, Instant win and Contests. Grow followers, shares, subscribers, traffic, referrals, sales and more 100+ · 5.0★ (25)
wp.org #21 ↑1 1 too high 23 
Translate and boost SEO – Automatic AI translation – wpLingua 2K+ · 4.9★ (33)
wp.org #23 24 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #16 8 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.