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← Rankings

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

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 redirect”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Redirect 404 to Home Page – Custom URL shows at wp.org #12 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 4K+ 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

All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 5231 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 Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276) wp.org #1 ↑2 2 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 301 Redirects – Redirect Manager 300K+ · 4.7★ (578) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 LoginWP (Formerly Peter's Login Redirect) 80K+ · 4.8★ (503) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Redirection for Contact Form 7 200K+ · 4.7★ (275) wp.org #7 ↑3 1 too low 7 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #10 ↓1 3 too low 8 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #11 ↑5 3 too low 9 Safe Redirect Manager 40K+ · 4.7★ (78) wp.org #9 ↓1 10 All 404 Redirect to Homepage 200K+ · 4.1★ (96) wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too high 11 Add to Cart Custom Redirect for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.5★ (14) wp.org #4 ↑1 7 too high 12 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #16 ↓4 4 too low 13 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820) wp.org #21 8 too low 14 404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring 100K+ · 4.7★ (321) wp.org #17 ↓3 3 too low 15 Admin Custom Login 10K+ · 4.6★ (388) wp.org #23 ↓3 8 too low 16 Maintenance & Coming Soon Redirect Animation 3K+ · 5.0★ (34) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 Sky Login Redirect 2K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #15 ↑2 2 too high 18 Custom Login 10K+ · 3.6★ (97) wp.org #22 ↓1 4 too low 19 Simple Page Redirect 10K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #13 6 too high 20 WP Post Redirect 3K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #14 ↑1 6 too high 21 After Login Redirect 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #19 2 too high 22 Custom 404 Pro 7K+ · 4.2★ (22) wp.org #24 ↓1 2 too low 23 Advanced GeoIP Redirect 900+ · 3.6★ (11) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Redirect 404 to Home Page – Custom URL 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 ↓1 12 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.