wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “change content based on location”
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 “change content based on location”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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
User IP and Location shows at wp.org #13 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 9 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
How this rank is calculated
Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.
A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.
A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.
Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.
Price Based on Country for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.8★ (262)
wp.org #1 2 
Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5,043)
wp.org #2 3 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8,713)
wp.org #3 ↑1 4 
Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1,668)
wp.org #4 ↑4 5 
Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418)
wp.org #5 ↓2 6 
Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1,445)
wp.org #6 7 
Content Control – The Ultimate Content Restriction Solution! Restrict Content, Create Conditional Blocks & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (575)
wp.org #9 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 8 
All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1,720)
wp.org #8 ↑7 9 
Location Weather – WordPress Weather Forecast, Air Quality & Weather Widget 10K+ · 4.5★ (103)
wp.org #7 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 10 
Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7,522)
wp.org #12 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 11 
Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270)
wp.org #11 12 
Weight Based Shipping Table Rate for WooCommerce – Flexible Shipping 100K+ · 4.9★ (707)
wp.org #15 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 13 
Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510)
wp.org #10 ↓5 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 14 
Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4,962)
wp.org #16 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 15 
Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8,870)
wp.org #22 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 7 places below merit 16 
Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (518)
wp.org #20 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 17 
Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423)
wp.org #24 wp.org ranks it 7 places below merit 18 
Kikote – Location Picker at Checkout & Google Address AutoFill Plugin for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (65)
wp.org #17 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 19 
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1,440)
wp.org #23 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 20 
If-So Dynamic Content – Elementor & All Page Builders Personalization 7K+ · 4.7★ (92)
wp.org #19 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 21 
All In One Login 60K+ · 3.6★ (35)
wp.org #14 wp.org ranks it 7 places above merit 22 
Calculate Prices based on Distance For WooCommerce 300+ · 4.8★ (20) thin reviews
wp.org #21 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 23 User IP and Location 3K+ · 4.2★ (9) thin reviews
wp.org #13 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 10 places above merit 24 
Simple Location 200+ · 4.6★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #18 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 6 places above merit Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.