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

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 “else”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Login or Logout Menu Item shows at wp.org #12 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 20K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 23 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPS Hide Login places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 2111 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #1 2

Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276) wp.org #2 3

MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) heavy footprint wp.org #4 ↓2 1 too low 4

EWWW Image Optimizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1842) wp.org #5 1 too low 5

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #7 2 too low 6

Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 1M+ · 4.9★ (4755) wp.org #8 ↓3 2 too low 7

Conditional Fields for Elementor Form – Apply Conditional Logic 10K+ · 4.7★ (32) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #3 4 too high 8

Social Slider Feed – Social Media Feed & Gallery Widgets 10K+ · 3.9★ (127) wp.org #6 ↓2 2 too high 9

All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #9 10

Popups for Divi 100K+ · 4.8★ (442) wp.org #13 3 too low 11

Nav Menu Roles 70K+ · 4.9★ (219) wp.org #14 ↓2 3 too low 12

WPS Hide Login 2M+ · 4.8★ (2111) wp.org #17 ↓8 5 too low 13

GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #11 ↓5 2 too high 14

Disable Gutenberg 500K+ · 5.0★ (735) wp.org #22 ↓9 8 too low 15

Performant Translations 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) thin reviews wp.org #10 ↓3 5 too high 16

WP All Export – Drag & Drop Export to Any Custom CSV, XML & Excel 100K+ · 4.5★ (415) wp.org #23 ↓6 7 too low 17

ManageWP Worker 1M+ · 4.6★ (679) wp.org #20 3 too low 18

Make Column Clickable for Elementor 100K+ · 4.9★ (53) wp.org #16 ↓5 2 too high 19

Sliced Invoices – WordPress Invoice Plugin 4K+ · 4.6★ (117) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #15 ↓1 5 too high 21

WPC Product Bundles for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.4★ (220) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #18 ↓3 3 too high 22

FluentAuth – Login Security, Two-Factor Authentication, Passkeys & Social Login 10K+ · 4.1★ (35) wp.org #19 ↓9 3 too high 23

Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓8 1 too low 24

SMNTCS Disable REST API User Endpoints 8K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #21 ↓2 3 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.