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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “click through”

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 “click through”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Disable Right Click RB – Content Copy Protection, Prevent Copy & No Right Click shows at wp.org #8 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 600+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 14 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 7519 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Click to Chat – HoliThemes 600K+ · 4.8★ (131) wp.org #1 2 No Right Click Images 20K+ · 4.7★ (52) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 One Click Demo Import 1M+ · 4.3★ (79) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Joinchat – Enhanced “click to chat” 700K+ · 4.7★ (189) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Disabled Source, Disabled Right Click and Content Protection 10K+ · 4.9★ (103) wp.org #6 ↑5 1 too low 6 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 #9 ↓2 3 too low 7 One Click SSL 10K+ · 4.9★ (139) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 Social Chat – Click To Chat App Button 200K+ · 4.9★ (696) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 Track The Click 7K+ · 4.7★ (18) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 too high 10 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #17 ↓3 7 too low 11 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #23 ↓3 12 too low 12 Art WooCommerce Order One Click 4K+ · 5.0★ (36) wp.org #11 ↓3 1 too high 13 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #19 ↓1 5 too low 15 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #14 ↓2 1 too high 16 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 ↓3 4 too low 17 Call Now Button – The Free Click to Call Button for WordPress 200K+ · 4.8★ (102) wp.org #22 ↓1 5 too low 18 Disable Right Click RB – Content Copy Protection, Prevent Copy & No Right Click 600+ · 4.2★ (14) wp.org #8 ↑15 10 too high 19 1-Click WordPress Migration Plugin – Backup, Migrate & Clone 400+ · 4.5★ (40) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 ClickCease Click Fraud Protection 10K+ · 3.0★ (8) wp.org #13 7 too high 21 Click To Copy – Copy Text or Code to Clipboard Instantly 900+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 ↓3 9 too high 22 Rara One Click Demo Import 20K+ · 2.7★ (7) wp.org #16 ↓3 6 too high 23 Click Counter and Heat Maps (Free) 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓2 5 too high 24 WhatsLink Click Tracker 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓2 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.