wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “choose”
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 “choose”, 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
Custom Fonts – Host Your Fonts Locally shows at wp.org #13 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 400K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 62 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #1 2 
Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) heavy footprint
wp.org #3 1 too low 3 
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143)
wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706)
wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 
No Gutenberg? – Choose Where to Use the Block Editor or the Classic Editor 9K+ · 5.0★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #2 3 too high 6 
WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1568)
wp.org #7 1 too low 7 
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 ↑1 3 too low 8 
Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #9 ↓3 1 too low 9 
TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #11 2 too low 10 
Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) not PHP-current
wp.org #6 ↓2 4 too high 11 
Drag and Drop Multiple File Upload for Contact Form 7 60K+ · 4.8★ (94)
wp.org #8 ↑2 3 too high 12 
WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617)
wp.org #14 ↑2 2 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 #12 ↑1 1 too high 14 
WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470)
wp.org #22 ↑2 8 too low 15 
Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418)
wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too low 16 
Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) heavy footprint
wp.org #15 ↑3 1 too high 17 
All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720)
wp.org #21 ↑2 4 too low 18 
PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce 300K+ · 5.0★ (1865) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #18 ↑1 19 Custom Fonts – Host Your Fonts Locally 400K+ · 4.3★ (62)
wp.org #13 6 too high 20 
Blocks Animation: CSS Animations for Gutenberg Blocks 90K+ · 4.8★ (73)
wp.org #19 ↑1 1 too high 21 
PW WooCommerce Gift Cards 20K+ · 4.7★ (195) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #16 ↑1 5 too high 22 
Connect Contact Form 7 to Mailchimp, Brevo, MailerLite, Klaviyo, GetResponse, EmailOctopus, Campaign Monitor & Moosend 40K+ · 4.3★ (190)
wp.org #23 1 too low 23 
Delivery & Pickup Date Time for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (282) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #24 1 too low 24 
Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #20 ↑3 4 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.