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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “create site”

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 “create site”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Simple Site Map Page shows at wp.org #12 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 8K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 27821 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 Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1012) wp.org #1 2 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #2 3 Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 MaxButtons – Create buttons 70K+ · 4.9★ (1093) wp.org #10 ↑1 4 too low 7 Create 6K+ · 4.3★ (25) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #8 ↑2 9 Create Block Theme 20K+ · 4.8★ (38) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too high 11 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #22 ↑2 11 too low 12 Popup Builder – Create highly converting, mobile friendly marketing popups. 200K+ · 4.7★ (2215) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 NS Cloner – Site Cloner and Multisite Duplicator 6K+ · 4.7★ (279) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 Shortcoder — Create Shortcodes for Anything 100K+ · 4.9★ (227) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 LearnPress – WordPress LMS Plugin for Create and Sell Online Courses 70K+ · 4.3★ (597) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too high 17 Simply Static – The Static Site Generator 30K+ · 4.5★ (195) wp.org #20 ↓5 3 too low 18 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #15 ↓6 3 too high 19 MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites 700K+ · 5.0★ (71) wp.org #11 ↑2 8 too high 20 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #24 ↓3 4 too low 21 My Private Site – Make Your Whole Site Private, Force Login & Block Registration Spam 10K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #18 3 too high 22 Linguator – AI Auto Translate & Create Multilingual Sites 3K+ · 4.6★ (20) wp.org #17 5 too high 23 Simple Site Map Page 8K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #12 ↑2 11 too high 24 WP Global Site Tag 7K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 ↓1 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.