Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “draft live”

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 “draft live”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

Live Copy Paste for Elementor – Cross Domain Copy Paste & Page Duplicator shows at wp.org #7 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 6K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 874 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #1 2 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (195) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #10 7 too low 4 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #13 ↓1 9 too low 5 SupportCandy – AI Customer Support Ticket System & Live Chatbot Agent 10K+ · 4.9★ (289) wp.org #12 ↑1 7 too low 6 Crisp – Live Chat and AI Chatbot 20K+ · 4.6★ (73) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #18 ↑3 11 too low 8 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #16 8 too low 9 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 Public Post Preview 100K+ · 4.6★ (79) wp.org #15 5 too low 11 HelpCrunch – Live Chat, Chatbot & Knowledge Base for Customer Service 2K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #5 6 too high 12 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #11 1 too high 13 Controlled Draft Publisher 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 11 too high 14 Editorial Calendar 20K+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 Share a Draft 3K+ · 3.7★ (11) wp.org #6 9 too high 16 GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #21 ↓2 5 too low 17 AI Chatbot for WooCommerce & Live Chat – onWebChat 700+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #17 18 FrontEdit – Live Frontend Block Editor 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 14 too high 19 Init Live Search – AI-Powered, Related Posts, Slash Commands 90+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #14 5 too high 20 Duplicate PP 10K+ · 4.4★ (19) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too high 22 Secure MCP Server for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and other AI Agents 8K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #22 ↑1 23 Newsletters, Email Marketing, SMS and Popups by Omnisend 100K+ · 4.8★ (17) wp.org #24 ↓2 1 too low 24 Live Copy Paste for Elementor – Cross Domain Copy Paste & Page Duplicator 6K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #7 17 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.