Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 plugin”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 5 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

Disable Updates for WordPress Core, Plugins and Themes shows at wp.org #6 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 9K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 410 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #1 2 Easy Updates Manager 300K+ · 4.8★ (726) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (504) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #10 ↑3 4 too low 7 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #12 ↓2 5 too low 8 Core Framework 10K+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #4 4 too high 9 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) wp.org #8 2 too high 11 Core Rollback 20K+ · 4.7★ (16) wp.org #7 4 too high 12 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #18 ↓1 6 too low 13 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #23 ↓2 10 too low 14 GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #14 15 WP Downgrade | Specific Core Version 100K+ · 4.8★ (169) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #17 ↑1 1 too low 17 Plugin Organizer 10K+ · 4.7★ (227) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 Payment Plugins for PayPal WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (127) wp.org #19 ↑4 1 too low 19 Disable Updates for WordPress Core, Plugins and Themes 9K+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #6 13 too high 20 Plugin Check (PCP) 10K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #20 21 WP Plugin Manager – Deactivate plugins per page 3K+ · 4.4★ (23) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 SiteGuard WP Plugin 600K+ · 4.3★ (15) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 Jupiter X Core 70K+ · 1.9★ (9) wp.org #13 ↓1 10 too high 24 Hester Core 10K+ · 2.5★ (2) wp.org #21 ↓2 3 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.