Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “developer mode”

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 “developer mode”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 3 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

Developer Debug Mode shows at wp.org #11 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 50+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin places #12 on merit, 4.4★ from 1445 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 LightStart – Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder 400K+ · 4.3★ (874) wp.org #1 2 Dark Mode for WP Dashboard 3K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #2 3 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1668) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #6 ↑5 2 too low 5 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 Maintenance Mode 8K+ · 4.6★ (14) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #12 ↑5 4 too low 9 Maintenance Redirect 10K+ · 4.9★ (24) wp.org #9 ↓2 10 Darkify – Dark Mode & Night Mode for Website & Admin (Dark Theme Included) 1K+ · 4.7★ (27) wp.org #8 ↑5 2 too high 11 SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #14 ↓2 3 too low 12 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #23 11 too low 13 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #18 ↑1 5 too low 14 OpenStation – Admin Dashboard Notes, Custom Dashboard, AI Assistant & PWA 1K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #15 ↓1 1 too low 15 Coming soon and Maintenance mode 8K+ · 4.2★ (83) wp.org #21 ↓1 6 too low 16 Darklup – Enhanced WordPress Dark Mode, Dark Theme, Night Mode & Accessibility Plugin 1K+ · 4.5★ (44) wp.org #13 ↓3 3 too high 17 Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode by Colorlib 5K+ · 4.7★ (42) wp.org #16 ↓1 1 too high 18 Markdown Editor (Formerly Dark Mode) 1K+ · 3.3★ (86) wp.org #20 ↓2 2 too low 19 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 Build Mode – Maintenance Mode & Coming Soon Page 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too high 21 Holiday Mode for WooCommerce 700+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #10 ↓2 11 too high 22 Labinator Minimal Maintenance Mode 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 Developer Debug Mode 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↓2 12 too high 24 Amitry Maintenance Mode & Coming Soon 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 2 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.