wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “default wp”
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 wp”, 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.
Buried gem
WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 1139 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.
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 #1 2 
WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470)
wp.org #2 3 
WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346)
wp.org #3 ↑4 4 
All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676)
wp.org #4 ↑1 5 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708)
wp.org #5 ↓1 6 
WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617)
wp.org #6 7 
WP Reset 300K+ · 4.8★ (1014)
wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too low 8 
WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312)
wp.org #8 ↑4 9 
WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (758)
wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too high 10 
WP Activity Log 300K+ · 4.7★ (490)
wp.org #13 ↑2 3 too low 11 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1139)
wp.org #17 ↑1 6 too low 12 
Default Featured Image 50K+ · 4.8★ (69)
wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too high 13 
WP Mail Logging 300K+ · 4.7★ (375)
wp.org #15 ↑1 2 too low 14 
WP Accessibility 60K+ · 4.8★ (68)
wp.org #11 ↑2 3 too high 15 
WP Crontrol 300K+ · 4.4★ (167)
wp.org #12 ↑2 3 too high 16 
WP Hide & Security Enhancer 50K+ · 4.3★ (275)
wp.org #14 ↑6 2 too high 17 
Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053)
wp.org #20 ↑1 3 too low 18 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #16 ↑1 2 too high 19 
Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373)
wp.org #18 ↑6 1 too high 20 
WP Rollback – Rollback Plugins and Themes 200K+ · 4.9★ (215)
wp.org #22 ↓3 2 too low 21 W WP Photo Album Plus 10K+ · 4.7★ (199)
wp.org #23 2 too low 22 
WP-PageNavi 400K+ · 4.7★ (149)
wp.org #19 ↓8 3 too high 23 
WP-Sweep 100K+ · 4.7★ (138)
wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too high 24 
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440)
wp.org #24 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.