wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “configuration”
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 “configuration”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 of the top 20. 3 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
WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway shows at wp.org #14 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 700K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.1★ average from 237 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) heavy footprint
wp.org #1 ↑1 2 
Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869)
wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 
WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too high 4 
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 #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 
Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6 
Nextend Social Login and Register 200K+ · 4.9★ (446)
wp.org #6 ↑3 7 
Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Sidebar Classic Widget Area Manager 100K+ · 4.7★ (1028)
wp.org #8 ↑3 1 too low 8 
Internal Link Juicer: SEO Auto Linker for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (537)
wp.org #9 ↑8 1 too low 9 
Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962)
wp.org #11 ↑3 2 too low 10 
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821)
wp.org #13 ↑11 3 too low 11 
Redis Object Cache 500K+ · 4.5★ (179)
wp.org #7 ↑1 4 too high 12 
Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528)
wp.org #12 ↓5 13 
OMGF | GDPR/DSGVO Compliant, Faster Google Fonts. Easy. 300K+ · 4.7★ (213)
wp.org #10 ↑2 3 too high 14 
TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #15 ↑1 1 too low 15 
Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517)
wp.org #20 ↓1 5 too low 16 
Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1488)
wp.org #18 ↓8 2 too low 17 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #17 ↑1 18 
Loginizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1033) not PHP-current
wp.org #19 1 too low 19 
File Manager Pro – Filester 100K+ · 4.9★ (155)
wp.org #23 4 too low 20 
hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88)
wp.org #21 ↓6 1 too low 21 
FancyBox for WordPress 30K+ · 4.6★ (92)
wp.org #24 3 too low 22 
Breeze Cache 300K+ · 3.6★ (133)
wp.org #16 ↑5 6 too high 23 
Flexible Table Block 40K+ · 4.9★ (34)
wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too high 24 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #14 ↓1 10 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.