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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “common settings”

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 “common settings”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Snillrik Settings shows at wp.org #7 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 50+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 1281 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 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 #4 3 too low 2 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #5 ↑3 3 too low 3 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Easy PHP Settings 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 BuddyPress 90K+ · 4.1★ (375) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1872) wp.org #9 ↓2 3 too low 7 Autoptimize 800K+ · 4.7★ (1428) wp.org #11 ↑5 4 too low 8 WP Accessibility 60K+ · 4.8★ (68) wp.org #8 ↑1 9 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #14 5 too low 10 Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #15 ↓2 5 too low 11 Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too low 12 Advanced Settings 3 200+ · 3.9★ (7) wp.org #2 ↑1 10 too high 13 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #20 ↑2 7 too low 14 Redis Object Cache 500K+ · 4.5★ (179) wp.org #10 4 too high 15 SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #13 ↓2 2 too high 16 Imagify Image Optimization: Optimize Images | Compress & Convert to WebP/AVIF 900K+ · 4.3★ (1656) wp.org #17 ↓3 1 too low 17 Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157) wp.org #12 ↑5 5 too high 18 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 Loginizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1033) wp.org #18 ↑5 1 too high 20 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #19 ↑2 1 too high 21 Safe SVG 1M+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 C Commons In A Box 20+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #21 ↓2 1 too high 23 Snillrik Settings 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 ↓1 16 too high 24 SiteSEO – SEO Simplified 400K+ · 4.0★ (8) wp.org #24

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.