Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “broken url”

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 “broken url”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 2 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

Remove Broken Images shows at wp.org #9 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 700+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 8706 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #1 2 Featured Image from URL (FIFU) 60K+ · 4.6★ (264) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 URL Shortify – Simple and Easy URL Shortener 10K+ · 4.7★ (169) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring 100K+ · 4.7★ (321) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #19 10 too low 10 Broken Link Notifier 1K+ · 4.8★ (14) wp.org #5 5 too high 11 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #20 9 too low 12 Export Media URLs 7K+ · 5.0★ (29) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 301 Redirects & 404 Error Log 30K+ · 4.6★ (28) wp.org #22 9 too low 14 LinkCentral – URL shortener, Affiliate Links & Custom Link Shortener with Link Tracking 400+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 Check for Broken Links – Broken Link Checker & SEO Suite 1K+ · 4.0★ (6) wp.org #7 8 too high 16 Show Pages URL List 1K+ · 4.4★ (8) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 Admin login URL Change 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #12 5 too high 18 Remove Taxonomy URL 1K+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #13 5 too high 19 Remove Broken Images 700+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #9 10 too high 20 Redirect 404 to Home Page – Custom URL 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 10 too high 21 U URL Replace 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 4 too high 22 Codesala Broken Link Fixer 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 404 Image Redirection (Replace Broken Images) 500+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 Url Rewrite Analyzer 400+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #21 3 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.