Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “debug wordpress”

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 “debug wordpress”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 5 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

Debug Log Viewer shows at wp.org #7 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 14 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

Advanced WordPress Reset – Debug, Recover & Reset WP places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 1233 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #1 2 Debug Bar 20K+ · 4.1★ (69) wp.org #2 3 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #3 4 MC4WP: Mailchimp for WordPress 1M+ · 4.8★ (1497) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too low 5 Debug Log Manager – Conveniently Monitor and Inspect Errors 10K+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #5 6 Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491) wp.org #10 ↑1 4 too low 7 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (195) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #15 ↓2 7 too low 9 Advanced WordPress Reset – Debug, Recover & Reset WP 10K+ · 4.9★ (1233) wp.org #18 ↑1 9 too low 10 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #14 4 too low 11 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #12 ↑4 1 too low 12 Debug 2K+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #4 8 too high 13 Translate WordPress – Google Language Translator 100K+ · 4.7★ (620) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too high 15 Advanced File Manager – Ultimate File Manager for WordPress And Document Library Solution 100K+ · 4.8★ (441) wp.org #21 ↑1 6 too low 16 Debug Log Manager Tool 3K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #6 10 too high 17 Easy WP SMTP – WordPress SMTP and Email Logs: Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Outlook, Custom SMTP, and more 500K+ · 4.6★ (709) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too high 19 Debug Bar Console 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #9 ↑1 10 too high 20 WordPress Beta Tester 2K+ · 4.0★ (47) wp.org #22 ↑1 2 too low 21 Debug Log Viewer 1K+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #7 ↑2 14 too high 22 GoSMTP – SMTP for WordPress 500K+ · 4.3★ (10) wp.org #17 5 too high 23 Developer Debug Tools 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #23 24 atec Debug 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↑2 5 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.