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← Rankings

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

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 “default”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 17 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

Setup Default Featured Image shows at wp.org #6 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Reset places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 1014 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Default Featured Image 50K+ · 4.8★ (69) wp.org #1 2 Paste As Plain Text By Default 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406) wp.org #12 9 too low 4 Post Types Order 600K+ · 4.5★ (296) wp.org #10 ↓3 6 too low 5 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 #16 ↑2 11 too low 6 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #18 ↓1 12 too low 7 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #17 ↑5 10 too low 8 WP Reset 300K+ · 4.8★ (1014) wp.org #21 13 too low 9 Default Admin Color Scheme 800+ · 4.7★ (9) wp.org #5 4 too high 10 Default Attributes for WooCommerce 400+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #4 6 too high 11 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #19 8 too low 12 SimpleTOC – Table of Contents Block 10K+ · 4.9★ (77) wp.org #23 11 too low 13 Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer 90K+ · 4.5★ (142) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 C Contact Form 7: Accessible Defaults 5K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #7 7 too high 15 D Default Sort Ascend 400+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #9 ↓1 6 too high 16 Default Post Author 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 ↓1 13 too high 17 F Filter Admin Published Default 400+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #8 ↑1 9 too high 18 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 Force Default Variant for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.8★ (21) wp.org #14 ↓1 5 too high 20 D Disable XML-RPC 200K+ · 4.1★ (34) wp.org #20 ↑4 21 WP Change Email Sender 10K+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too low 22 Setup Default Featured Image 400+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 16 too high 23 Comment Form WP – Customize Default Comment Form 600+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 8 too high 24 Change Default Email Sender Name 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↑1 11 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.