wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “customer statistics”
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 “customer statistics”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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
Customer Cloud Gallery – Google Drive & Dropbox Image Gallery shows at wp.org #14 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 50+ 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
Product Filter for WooCommerce by WBW places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 325 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539)
wp.org #1 2 
Visitor Traffic Real Time Statistics 30K+ · 4.1★ (233)
wp.org #2 3 
MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435)
wp.org #3 4 
Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667)
wp.org #5 1 too low 5 
All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231)
wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too low 6 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #6 ↑1 7 
Customer Reviews Collector for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.7★ (24) thin reviews
wp.org #4 3 too high 8 
SupportCandy – AI Customer Support Ticket System & Live Chatbot Agent 10K+ · 4.9★ (289)
wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too low 9 
Contact Form by Supsystic – Drag & Drop Form Builder with Templates & Form Statistics 6K+ · 4.7★ (92)
wp.org #8 1 too high 10 
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408)
wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too high 11 
Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167)
wp.org #11 12 Product Filter for WooCommerce by WBW 50K+ · 4.8★ (325)
wp.org #17 5 too low 13 
Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992)
wp.org #21 ↑1 8 too low 14 
Customer Engagement System – Popup Builder, Forms, CRM & Email Marketing Automation 9K+ · 4.5★ (340)
wp.org #16 ↓3 2 too low 15 
BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55)
wp.org #13 ↑2 2 too high 16 
wpDataTables – WordPress Data Table, Dynamic Tables & Table Charts Plugin 60K+ · 4.5★ (449)
wp.org #22 ↓3 6 too low 17 
hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88)
wp.org #19 ↓3 2 too low 18 
Coupon Affiliates – Affiliate Plugin for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (77)
wp.org #24 ↓3 6 too low 19 
Paymattic – Secure, Simple Payment & Donation with Subscription Payments, Recurring Donations, Customer Management 3K+ · 4.8★ (44)
wp.org #23 ↑1 4 too low 20 
Counters Block – Animated Number Counters, Stats & Dynamic KPIs 3K+ · 5.0★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #12 8 too high 21 
Support Genix – Helpdesk, AI Chatbot, Knowledge Base & Customer Support Ticketing System 3K+ · 4.5★ (10) thin reviews
wp.org #18 3 too high 22 
DevDome Analytics: Bot Traffic vs Human Traffic Website Statistics 300+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #20 2 too high 23 Customer Cloud Gallery – Google Drive & Dropbox Image Gallery 50+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #14 ↓2 9 too high 24 
Trustami Badge for Customer Reviews and Google Stars 100+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #15 ↓1 9 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.