Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “core”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

Jupiter X Core shows at wp.org #6 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 70K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 1.9★ average from 9 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 8869 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #1 ↑3 2 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) wp.org #2 3 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #3 ↓2 4 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #8 ↑1 4 too low 5 WP Downgrade | Specific Core Version 100K+ · 4.8★ (169) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too low 6 Autoptimize 800K+ · 4.7★ (1428) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Easy Updates Manager 300K+ · 4.8★ (726) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 Core Framework 10K+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #4 ↑1 4 too high 9 Core Rollback 20K+ · 4.7★ (16) wp.org #5 ↓2 4 too high 10 Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN 70K+ · 4.7★ (1488) wp.org #17 7 too low 11 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #18 ↓2 7 too low 12 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #22 10 too low 13 NitroPack – Performance, Page Speed & Cache Plugin for Core Web Vitals, CDN & Image Optimization 90K+ · 4.3★ (311) wp.org #15 ↓1 2 too low 14 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3003) wp.org #21 ↑1 7 too low 15 WPSSO Core – Complete Schema Markup and Meta Tags 4K+ · 4.6★ (306) wp.org #19 ↑2 4 too low 16 Easy Optimizer – PageSpeed, Cache & Core Web Vitals (Unused CSS, Delay JS, Lazy Load) 1K+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #13 ↑5 3 too high 17 WPSpeed – WordPress Speed, Cache & Performance Optimization (Core Web Vitals, PageSpeed 100) 2K+ · 4.9★ (40) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Load Combined Core Block Assets 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #12 6 too high 19 Core Web Vitals & PageSpeed Booster 1K+ · 3.9★ (15) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too high 20 Disable Updates for WordPress Core, Plugins and Themes 9K+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #14 ↓1 6 too high 21 Disable Auto Update Emails and Block Updates for Plugins, WP Core, and Themes 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 Jupiter X Core 70K+ · 1.9★ (9) wp.org #6 ↑1 16 too high 23 Walker Core 700+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Hester Core 10K+ · 2.5★ (2) wp.org #9 ↓1 15 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.