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

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

Uptime Monitoring for WordPress – My Website is Online shows at wp.org #9 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 1720 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 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #1 ↑10 2 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring 100K+ · 4.7★ (321) wp.org #4 ↓2 1 too low 4 WP Umbrella: Security Backup Restore & Monitoring 90K+ · 4.8★ (81) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #6 ↓2 1 too low 6 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #5 ↓2 1 too high 7 SMTP2GO for WordPress – Email Made Easy 40K+ · 5.0★ (67) wp.org #10 ↓2 3 too low 8 Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1489) wp.org #15 ↓3 7 too low 9 Brevo – Email, SMS, Web Push, Chat, and more. 100K+ · 4.1★ (284) wp.org #17 ↓1 8 too low 10 Email Tracker 800+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #8 ↓2 2 too high 11 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #23 ↑1 12 too low 12 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #24 ↓2 12 too low 13 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #13 14 Solid Mail – SMTP email and logging made by SolidWP 60K+ · 4.2★ (52) wp.org #21 ↓2 7 too low 15 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #19 ↑2 4 too low 16 Elastic Email Sender 10K+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #7 ↓2 9 too high 17 Sucuri Security – Auditing, Malware Scanner and Security Hardening 600K+ · 4.2★ (386) wp.org #20 ↓3 3 too low 18 Send Emails with Mandrill 6K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #14 4 too high 19 DeBounce Email Validator 300+ · 3.9★ (16) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too high 20 Super Monitoring 50+ · 4.4★ (9) wp.org #12 ↓3 8 too high 21 Email OTP Authenticator – Login, Register & 2FA 100+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #18 3 too high 22 Uptime Monitoring for WordPress – My Website is Online 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 ↓2 13 too high 23 Email Deliverability – SMTP Replacement, Email API Deliverability & Email Log 200K+ · 2.5★ (17) wp.org #11 ↓1 12 too high 24 SYSSY – Monitoring Websites 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↓2 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.