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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “bulk mail”

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 “bulk mail”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 3 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

Bulk Mail Send shows at wp.org #7 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Polylang places #9 on merit, 4.7★ from 3004 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #1 2 WP Mail Logging 300K+ · 4.7★ (375) wp.org #2 3 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #3 4 Mail logging & Catcher 20K+ · 4.9★ (108) wp.org #4 5 Mail Mint – Email Marketing, Automation & WooCommerce Emails with AI Assistance 4K+ · 4.7★ (125) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #17 ↓1 11 too low 7 Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging 90K+ · 4.8★ (292) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #16 ↓5 8 too low 9 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3004) wp.org #21 ↑2 12 too low 10 Mail Queue 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #5 5 too high 11 Bulk Media Register 8K+ · 4.5★ (22) wp.org #8 3 too high 12 Import and export users and customers 70K+ · 4.7★ (259) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 Advanced Shipment Tracking for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.5★ (355) wp.org #12 ↑1 1 too high 14 Easy WP SMTP – WordPress SMTP and Email Logs: Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Outlook, Custom SMTP, and more 500K+ · 4.6★ (709) wp.org #24 ↓2 10 too low 15 Solid Mail – SMTP email and logging made by SolidWP 60K+ · 4.2★ (52) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too high 16 Bulk Page Generator – LPagery 3K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 Ultimate WP Mail 700+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #10 7 too high 18 GSheetConnector – CF7 Google Sheets Connector & Save CF7 Entries to Database 40K+ · 4.4★ (129) wp.org #20 ↑4 2 too low 19 Price by Quantity & Bulk Quantity Discounts for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #23 ↓2 4 too low 20 Bulk Download for Gravity Forms 500+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 ↑1 9 too high 21 Pro Mail SMTP 300+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #13 ↑1 8 too high 22 Magic Login Mail or QR Code 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 ↑2 7 too high 23 GoSMTP – SMTP for WordPress 500K+ · 4.3★ (10) wp.org #22 ↓2 1 too high 24 Bulk Mail Send 100+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #7 17 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.