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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “days”

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

Visual Bible Verse of the Day Widget shows at wp.org #10 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 2143 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 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #1 2 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) wp.org #2 3 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 #3 4 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #4 5 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 1 too low 6 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #8 ↑3 1 too low 8 Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #16 ↓1 7 too low 10 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #15 5 too low 11 Bible Verse of the Day 3K+ · 4.9★ (11) wp.org #5 ↑2 6 too high 12 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #12 ↑11 13 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #18 ↑3 5 too low 14 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #14 15 Booking Calendar 40K+ · 4.8★ (657) wp.org #23 ↓6 8 too low 16 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 Click to Chat – HoliThemes 600K+ · 4.8★ (131) wp.org #21 ↓2 4 too low 18 Assistant – Every Day Productivity Apps 4K+ · 4.9★ (15) wp.org #11 ↓1 7 too high 19 We’re Open! 5K+ · 5.0★ (45) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 W WP Photo Album Plus 10K+ · 4.7★ (199) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 On This Day (by Room 34) 200+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #13 ↓1 8 too high 22 P Post/Page Edit Restriction Days 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 Visual Bible Verse of the Day Widget 1K+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #10 ↓1 13 too high 24 Posts On This Day 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↑1 7 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.