wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “create users”
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 users”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 of the top 20.
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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.
Ranked above its merit
Send Users Email – Email Subscribers, Email Marketing Newsletter shows at wp.org #13 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 28 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
How this rank is calculated
Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.
A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.
A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.
Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.
Import and export users and customers 70K+ · 4.7★ (259)
wp.org #2 1 too low 2 
User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738)
wp.org #3 1 too low 3 
Create 6K+ · 4.3★ (25)
wp.org #1 2 too high 4 
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #4 5 
Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445)
wp.org #5 ↑1 6 
Export and Import Users and Customers 50K+ · 4.8★ (442)
wp.org #7 ↓2 1 too low 7 
MaxButtons – Create buttons 70K+ · 4.9★ (1093)
wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too low 8 
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322)
wp.org #8 ↑1 9 
Popup Builder – Create highly converting, mobile friendly marketing popups. 200K+ · 4.7★ (2216)
wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too low 10 
User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832)
wp.org #12 ↑7 2 too low 11 
UserFeedback – Create Interactive Feedback Form, User Surveys, and Polls in Seconds 200K+ · 4.8★ (309)
wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too high 12 
Create Block Theme 20K+ · 4.8★ (38)
wp.org #6 ↑1 6 too high 13 
LearnPress – WordPress LMS Plugin for Create and Sell Online Courses 70K+ · 4.3★ (597)
wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too low 14 
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14388)
wp.org #21 7 too low 15 
User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission 20K+ · 4.1★ (537)
wp.org #16 1 too low 16 
Shortcoder — Create Shortcodes for Anything 100K+ · 4.9★ (227)
wp.org #18 ↑2 2 too low 17 
RegistrationMagic – Custom Registration Forms, User Registration, Payment, and User Login 7K+ · 4.5★ (459)
wp.org #20 ↑1 3 too low 18 
WP Remote Users Sync 5K+ · 4.9★ (73)
wp.org #15 ↓2 3 too high 19 
Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1013)
wp.org #17 2 too high 20 
The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2463)
wp.org #23 ↑1 3 too low 21 Send Users Email – Email Subscribers, Email Marketing Newsletter 5K+ · 4.5★ (28)
wp.org #13 ↑1 8 too high 22 
One User Avatar | User Profile Picture 100K+ · 4.7★ (41)
wp.org #19 ↓1 3 too high 23 
Bulk Edit and Create User Profiles – WP Sheet Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (19) thin reviews
wp.org #22 1 too high 24 
Import Users & Customers with Meta | WP Ultimate CSV Importer Add-on 5K+ · 3.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #24 ↓1 Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.