Plugin Pulse
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “dreamhost”

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 “dreamhost”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 4 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

Cron Guard shows at wp.org #6 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its — installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Videopack places #5 on merit, 4.8★ from 63 reviews, but shows at wp.org #9. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1640) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (372) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 DreamHost Automated Migration 20K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Active Directory/LDAP Integration for Cloud & Shared Hosting Platforms 40+ · 4.9★ (39) wp.org #4 5 Videopack 10K+ · 4.8★ (63) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Free 1-Click WordPress Migration 300+ · 4.5★ (39) wp.org #12 6 too low 7 Proxy Cache Purge 50K+ · 4.4★ (26) wp.org #7 ↑1 8 Transferito: WP Migration 300+ · 4.5★ (16) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 Order Tip for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.3★ (16) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Backup Database 50+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #19 9 too low 11 Developer Debug Tools 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #14 3 too low 12 Varnish/Nginx Proxy Caching 600+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #17 5 too low 13 Optimal State – Advanced Optimization, Performance & Security Suite 40+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 Trinity Backup – Backup, Migrate, Restore, Clone & Schedule Backups 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 9 too high 15 Foliopress WYSIWYG 200+ · 4.0★ (8) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 Cron Guard — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 ↓1 10 too high 17 VCNS Security Automation Manager — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 9 too high 18 Champlin Pre-Flight Audit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 2 too high 19 OpenHook 1K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 M Mailer — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 F FeedCache 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 22 W Weebly Importer Lite 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 A Altos Widgets 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 P PowerPress Posts From MySQL addon 10+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.