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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “email client”

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

Pronamic Client shows at wp.org #12 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 600+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 3220 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 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 #1 2 Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging 90K+ · 4.8★ (292) wp.org #2 3 Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer 90K+ · 4.5★ (142) wp.org #3 4 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #4 5 Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups 20K+ · 4.9★ (701) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too low 6 Email Templates Customizer and Designer for WordPress and WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.6★ (133) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Email Subscribers & Newsletters by Icegram Express – Email Marketing, Post Notifications & WooCommerce Marekting Automation for WordPress 50K+ · 4.6★ (1170) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Jetpack CRM – Clients, Leads, Invoices, Billing, Email Marketing, & Automation 30K+ · 4.3★ (152) wp.org #8 ↓1 9 YayMail – WooCommerce Email Customizer 50K+ · 4.8★ (291) wp.org #13 4 too low 10 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #23 ↓1 13 too low 11 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #22 11 too low 12 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #19 ↑2 7 too low 13 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #20 ↓2 7 too low 14 Contact Form Email 8K+ · 4.3★ (102) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 Ultimate Client Dash 2K+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 Email Tracker 800+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #16 ↓1 17 WP Client Reports 6K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #9 8 too high 18 Disable Emails 30K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #24 ↓4 6 too low 19 Shop as Client for WooCommerce – Manual, Phone & Email Orders 500+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #10 9 too high 20 E Email Post Changes 500+ · 4.0★ (13) wp.org #21 ↓2 1 too low 21 WP-EMail 1K+ · 4.5★ (11) wp.org #18 ↓1 3 too high 22 Email Addon for Contact Form 7 3K+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too high 23 PressedMail – Email Client, Inbox & Webmail 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 9 too high 24 Pronamic Client 600+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 12 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.