Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 month”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 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

WP Adsterra Dashboard shows at wp.org #7 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 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 #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 5209 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Dynamic Month & Year into Posts 8K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #1 2 Shortcode for Current Date 10K+ · 5.0★ (116) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 WP Date and Time Shortcode 10K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Current Year, Symbols and IP Shortcode 10K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too low 7 My Calendar – Accessible Event Manager 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #10 ↓3 3 too low 8 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 #16 ↑1 8 too low 9 Search Regex 100K+ · 4.7★ (101) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #18 8 too low 11 File Manager Pro – Filester 100K+ · 4.9★ (155) wp.org #15 4 too low 12 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #8 ↑3 4 too high 13 WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565) wp.org #20 ↓4 7 too low 14 Delivery & Pickup Date Time for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (282) wp.org #17 ↑2 3 too low 15 SiteOrigin Widgets Bundle 400K+ · 4.9★ (134) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 WP Simple Booking Calendar 10K+ · 4.8★ (227) wp.org #19 ↓4 3 too low 17 Simple Membership 40K+ · 4.6★ (475) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 C Custom Post Type Widgets 10K+ · 4.8★ (14) wp.org #13 5 too high 19 AADMY – Add Auto Date Month Year Into Posts 400+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #6 13 too high 20 C Current Age Plugin 60+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #9 11 too high 21 Booking Package 10K+ · 4.0★ (15) wp.org #14 7 too high 22 Web-Stat – Live Visitor Analytics 5K+ · 4.4★ (20) wp.org #22 ↓2 23 Event Post 1K+ · 4.3★ (35) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 WP Adsterra Dashboard 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 ↑1 17 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.