wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “current day posts”

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 “current day posts”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 2 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

Posts On This Day shows at wp.org #7 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 50+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 5209 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

List category posts 80K+ · 4.7★ (254) wp.org #1 2

Shortcode for Current Date 10K+ · 5.0★ (116) wp.org #2 3

SchedulePress – Auto Post & Publish, Auto Social Share, Schedule Posts with Editorial Calendar & Missed Schedule Post Publisher 10K+ · 4.6★ (201) wp.org #3 4

Category Posts Block 40K+ · 4.5★ (79) wp.org #4 5

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #8 3 too low 6

The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #11 5 too low 7

Dynamic Month & Year into Posts 8K+ · 5.0★ (18) thin reviews wp.org #5 2 too high 8

Post Duplicator 200K+ · 4.8★ (80) wp.org #9 1 too low 9

W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #15 6 too low 10

Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #14 4 too low 11

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 #20 9 too low 12

WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565) wp.org #18 6 too low 13

GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #13 14

Magical Posts Display – Elementor Advanced Posts widgets 3K+ · 4.4★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #6 8 too high 15

Filter Everything — WordPress & WooCommerce Filters 50K+ · 4.6★ (154) wp.org #24 9 too low 16

Click to Chat – HoliThemes 600K+ · 4.8★ (131) wp.org #22 6 too low 17

On This Day (by Room 34) 200+ · 5.0★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #12 5 too high 18

Assistant – Every Day Productivity Apps 4K+ · 4.9★ (15) heavy footprint thin reviews wp.org #19 1 too low 19

Republish Old Posts 2K+ · 4.3★ (12) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #10 9 too high 20

Solid Post Likes 500+ · 4.8★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #17 3 too high 21

Most And Least Read Posts Widget 900+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #16 5 too high 22

Posts On This Day 50+ · 5.0★ (2) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #7 15 too high 23

DayOfWeek 300+ · 4.6★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #21 2 too high 24

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.