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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “e mail”

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 “e mail”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

rapidmail: Newsletter & E-Mail Marketing for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #13 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Germanized for WooCommerce places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 496 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Manage Notification E-mails 100K+ · 4.8★ (56) wp.org #1 2 Preview E-mails for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.9★ (85) wp.org #2 3 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3004) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 Email Template Designer – WP HTML Mail 20K+ · 4.8★ (87) wp.org #5 ↓2 1 too low 5 Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #9 ↑3 4 too low 6 Antispam Bee 700K+ · 4.8★ (226) wp.org #6 7 Postie 10K+ · 4.7★ (139) wp.org #7 8 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #8 9 Germanized for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (496) wp.org #14 ↓1 5 too low 10 Flexible Checkout Fields for WooCommerce – WooCommerce Checkout Manager 80K+ · 4.7★ (296) wp.org #15 5 too low 11 F4 Shipping Phone and E-Mail for WooCommerce 700+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #3 ↑1 8 too high 12 Easy Google Maps by Supsystic – Custom Markers, Clustering & Map Themes 20K+ · 4.6★ (251) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 PagBank / PagSeguro e Vindi para WooCommerce 3K+ · 5.0★ (64) wp.org #10 3 too high 14 Correios Automático – Rastreio, Frete, Etiqueta, Declaração e Devolução 4K+ · 5.0★ (90) wp.org #18 ↓8 4 too low 15 Affiliates Manager 8K+ · 4.1★ (61) wp.org #19 ↓2 4 too low 16 Comment Reply Email Notification 3K+ · 4.8★ (33) wp.org #24 ↓3 8 too low 17 AntiVirus 30K+ · 4.1★ (23) wp.org #21 ↓2 4 too low 18 Comment Moderation/Notification Recipients 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #11 ↓2 7 too high 19 Easy SVG Support 40K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 S Subscribe to Comments 10K+ · 3.9★ (14) wp.org #23 ↓5 3 too low 21 Shipping Live Rates for Royal Mail for WooCommerce 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 ↓4 9 too high 22 Cryptex | E-Mail Address Protection 800+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #17 ↓3 5 too high 23 PagBank for WooCommerce 4K+ · 3.6★ (7) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too high 24 rapidmail: Newsletter & E-Mail Marketing for WooCommerce 400+ · 2.3★ (3) wp.org #13 ↓2 11 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.