Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “close site”

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 “close site”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Email Deliverability – SMTP Replacement, Email API Deliverability & Email Log shows at wp.org #9 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 200K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.5★ average from 17 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 8706 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 Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #1 2 NS Cloner – Site Cloner and Multisite Duplicator 6K+ · 4.7★ (279) wp.org #2 3 Gutenverse – WordPress Blocks, Page Builder & Site Editor 20K+ · 4.9★ (190) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) wp.org #6 ↓2 2 too low 5 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #5 ↑4 6 Maintenance 1M+ · 4.4★ (869) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 Open Close Store for WooCommerce – Business Hours & Order Scheduling 600+ · 3.4★ (41) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #12 ↓1 4 too low 9 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #10 ↑2 1 too low 10 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #16 ↓1 6 too low 11 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #21 10 too low 12 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #18 ↓4 6 too low 13 One Click Close Comments 5K+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #8 5 too high 14 Intranet & Private Site – All-In-One Intranet 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #14 ↓1 15 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #22 ↓2 7 too low 16 Royal WordPress Backup, Restore & Migration Plugin – Backup WordPress Sites Safely 30K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #15 ↑3 1 too high 17 Gutenify – Visual Site Builder Blocks & Starter Templates 5K+ · 4.5★ (11) wp.org #17 ↓1 18 Nexter Extension – Security, Performance, Code Snippets & Site Toolkit 10K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #20 ↑4 2 too low 19 UWH Site Migrator – WP Migration, Backup & Restore 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 ↑6 8 too high 20 Email Deliverability – SMTP Replacement, Email API Deliverability & Email Log 200K+ · 2.5★ (17) wp.org #9 ↓2 11 too high 21 Auto-Close Comments, Pingbacks and Trackbacks 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↓3 8 too high 22 Site Lockdown Security 700+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #23 ↓2 1 too low 23 RS Remote Site Manager 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 Universally – AI Translation & Multilingual SEO: Translate Your Site into 110+ Languages 30K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓2

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.