wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “companies”

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 “companies”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 6 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

Express, Certified Post, Bike Delivery and Iranian Postal Companies for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #14 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.1★ average from 16 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Timeline Widget For Elementor (Elementor Timeline, Vertical & Horizontal Timeline) places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 248 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #1 2

Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3

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 ↓1 1 too low 4

All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #5 ↑13 1 too low 5 M MAS Companies For WP Job Manager 1K+ · 4.9★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #2 ↑2 3 too high 6

WP Job Manager 70K+ · 4.4★ (237) wp.org #7 ↓2 1 too low 7

BuddyPress 90K+ · 4.1★ (375) wp.org #9 2 too low 8

FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #10 ↓3 2 too low 9

Campos Checkout Brasileiro para WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (45) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #6 ↑13 3 too high 10

Timeline Widget For Elementor (Elementor Timeline, Vertical & Horizontal Timeline) 70K+ · 4.8★ (248) wp.org #16 ↓1 6 too low 11

WP LinkedIn Auto Publish 8K+ · 4.8★ (106) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #8 ↑6 3 too high 12

Cool Timeline (Horizontal & Vertical Timeline) 20K+ · 4.7★ (333) wp.org #18 ↓2 6 too low 13

Flexible Checkout Fields for WooCommerce – WooCommerce Checkout Manager 80K+ · 4.7★ (296) wp.org #19 ↑2 6 too low 14

MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #13 ↓7 1 too high 15

Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #12 3 too high 16

WP Job Portal – AI-Powered Recruitment System for Company or Job Board website 8K+ · 4.3★ (32) wp.org #11 5 too high 17

Jetpack CRM – Clients, Leads, Invoices, Billing, Email Marketing, & Automation 30K+ · 4.3★ (152) wp.org #20 ↓3 3 too low 18

Print Invoice & Delivery Notes for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.4★ (140) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #15 ↓7 3 too high 19

Event Tickets and Registration 90K+ · 3.5★ (236) heavy footprint wp.org #17 ↓4 2 too high 20

BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) not PHP-current wp.org #24 4 too low 21

morkva UA Shipping – Nova Poshta, Ukrposhta, Rozetka, Nova Global 1K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #21 22

Express, Certified Post, Bike Delivery and Iranian Postal Companies for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.1★ (16) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↓4 8 too high 23

Timeline Block For Gutenberg 9K+ · 4.4★ (11) thin reviews wp.org #22 1 too high 24

Feedback Company 800+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #23 ↑1 1 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.