wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “do more”

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 “do more”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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.

Ranked above its merit

Query Loop Load More shows at wp.org #11 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 900+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #1 2

Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #2 3

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 #3 4

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #4 5

Load More Products for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.9★ (275) wp.org #6 1 too low 6

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8709) wp.org #8 2 too low 7

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #10 ↓1 3 too low 8

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #9 ↑4 10

hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #7 3 too high 11

Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #14 ↑1 3 too low 12

Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #13 ↑11 1 too low 13

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #16 ↑3 3 too low 14

Calculated Fields Form – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact, Payment, Quote, Quiz & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (973) wp.org #18 4 too low 15

Easy WP SMTP – WordPress SMTP and Email Logs: Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Outlook, Custom SMTP, and more 500K+ · 4.6★ (709) wp.org #17 2 too low 16

The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) wp.org #19 3 too low 17

MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) wp.org #20 3 too low 18

iubenda | All-in-one Compliance for GDPR / CCPA Cookie Consent + more 200K+ · 4.7★ (397) wp.org #22 ↑1 4 too low 19

Load More Anything 5K+ · 4.5★ (73) wp.org #15 ↑1 4 too high 20

MoreConvert Wishlist for WooCommerce 8K+ · 4.9★ (120) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too low 21

Brevo – Email, SMS, Web Push, Chat, and more. 100K+ · 4.1★ (284) wp.org #23 ↓1 2 too low 22

Query Loop Load More 900+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #11 ↓1 12 too high 24

Crowdsignal Dashboard – Polls, Surveys & more 200K+ · 2.7★ (34) 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.