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← Rankings

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

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 content”, 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

Default Post Author shows at wp.org #12 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 1K+ 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

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 7519 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. 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 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #2 3 Content Views – Post Grid & Filter (Shortcode, Blocks, Elementor Widgets) 100K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #4 ↑2 5 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Content Control – The Ultimate Content Restriction Solution! Restrict Content, Create Conditional Blocks & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (575) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too low 9 SSL Insecure Content Fixer 100K+ · 4.8★ (221) wp.org #9 10 Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270) wp.org #14 ↓1 4 too low 11 Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content 10K+ · 4.2★ (60) wp.org #5 ↓2 6 too high 12 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #24 ↓4 12 too low 13 SimpleTOC – Table of Contents Block 10K+ · 4.9★ (77) wp.org #19 6 too low 14 Easy Table of Contents 600K+ · 4.4★ (221) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too low 15 Export media with selected content (by DKZR) 40K+ · 4.5★ (93) wp.org #18 ↓1 3 too low 16 Disabled Source, Disabled Right Click and Content Protection 10K+ · 4.9★ (103) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 Timed Content 5K+ · 4.6★ (41) wp.org #15 ↓1 2 too high 18 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #13 5 too high 19 Paste As Plain Text By Default 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #11 ↓1 8 too high 20 Cookies and Content Security Policy 10K+ · 4.9★ (67) wp.org #23 ↓1 3 too low 21 Content Egg – Affiliate Product Importer & Price Comparison 10K+ · 3.9★ (56) wp.org #21 22 Default Admin Color Scheme 800+ · 4.7★ (9) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too high 23 Default Post Author 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 11 too high 24 Essential Content Types 20K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #16 ↓1 8 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.