Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “check service”

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 “check service”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Service Showcase shows at wp.org #4 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 800+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Widgets for Google Reviews places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 2667 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #1 2 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too low 4 Chatway Live Chat – AI Chatbot, Customer Support, FAQ & Helpdesk Customer Service & Chat Buttons 30K+ · 5.0★ (775) wp.org #8 4 too low 5 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 WP Spell Check 2K+ · 2.9★ (39) wp.org #2 5 too high 8 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 #10 2 too low 9 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #14 ↓2 5 too low 10 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #15 ↓1 5 too low 11 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #12 ↑3 1 too low 12 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #20 ↓1 8 too low 13 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #18 ↓2 5 too low 14 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 TermsFeed AutoTerms: Privacy Policy Generator, Cookie Consent, GDPR, CCPA, Terms & Conditions, Disclaimers, Cookies Policy, EULA 70K+ · 4.7★ (246) wp.org #23 ↓2 6 too low 18 Service Box 400+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 12 too high 19 Appointment Booking Plugin for WooCommerce | Online Booking Calendar & Service Manager 200+ · 4.4★ (11) wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too low 20 Check for Broken Links – Broken Link Checker & SEO Suite 2K+ · 4.0★ (6) wp.org #11 9 too high 21 Service Showcase 800+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 ↑1 17 too high 22 CMS ADMINS Security Check Report 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 9 too high 23 Services Section Block – present your services in clean grids and columns 2K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #17 ↑1 6 too high 24 Instant Indexing & Check for Google and Bing SEO 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓2 5 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.