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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “custom mail”

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 “custom mail”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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.

C

Ranked above its merit

Custom Forgot Password Mail shows at wp.org #6 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 300+ 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

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #1 2 Mail logging & Catcher 20K+ · 4.9★ (108) wp.org #2 3 Mail Mint – Email Marketing, Automation & WooCommerce Emails with AI Assistance 4K+ · 4.7★ (125) wp.org #5 ↑2 2 too low 4 Zoho Mail for WordPress 20K+ · 3.7★ (42) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Email Template Designer – WP HTML Mail 20K+ · 4.8★ (87) wp.org #7 ↓3 2 too low 6 Manage Notification E-mails 100K+ · 4.8★ (56) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging 90K+ · 4.8★ (292) wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too low 8 Mail Queue 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #4 ↑1 4 too high 9 Preview E-mails for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.9★ (85) wp.org #13 4 too low 10 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #23 ↑1 13 too low 11 Easy WP SMTP – WordPress SMTP and Email Logs: Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Outlook, Custom SMTP, and more 500K+ · 4.6★ (709) wp.org #17 ↑1 6 too low 12 RegistrationMagic – Custom Registration Forms, User Registration, Payment, and User Login 7K+ · 4.5★ (459) wp.org #19 ↑1 7 too low 13 Easy Google Maps by Supsystic – Custom Markers, Clustering & Map Themes 20K+ · 4.6★ (251) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #16 2 too low 15 YaySMTP – WP Mail SMTP with Email Logs, Tracking & Reports 10K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #18 ↑1 3 too low 16 Advanced Custom Fields: Extended 100K+ · 4.8★ (132) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 GSheetConnector – CF7 Google Sheets Connector & Save CF7 Entries to Database 40K+ · 4.4★ (129) wp.org #15 ↑2 2 too high 18 C Custom Forgot Password Mail 300+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #6 12 too high 19 Custom 404 Pro 7K+ · 4.2★ (22) wp.org #12 ↑2 7 too high 20 Ultimate WP Mail 700+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #10 ↑1 10 too high 21 Custom Price for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #14 ↑1 7 too high 22 Zoho ZeptoMail 5K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 Shipping Live Rates for Royal Mail for WooCommerce 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 ↓2 12 too high 24 Pro Mail SMTP 300+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #22 2 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.