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

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 queue”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Benchmark Email Lite shows at wp.org #11 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 517 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. 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 #2 1 too low 2 MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Mail Queue 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Email Subscribers & Newsletters by Icegram Express – Email Marketing, Post Notifications & WooCommerce Marekting Automation for WordPress 50K+ · 4.6★ (1170) wp.org #4 5 FluentCRM – Email Newsletter, Automation, Email Marketing, Email Campaigns, Optins, Leads, and CRM Solution 80K+ · 4.8★ (250) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 Easy WP SMTP – WordPress SMTP and Email Logs: Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Outlook, Custom SMTP, and more 500K+ · 4.6★ (709) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 ShopMagic – email automation for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (78) wp.org #7 8 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #16 ↑2 8 too low 9 Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 Send Users Email – Email Subscribers, Email Marketing Newsletter 5K+ · 4.5★ (28) wp.org #6 ↓1 4 too high 11 Front End PM 4K+ · 4.8★ (220) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 Email Tracker 800+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #9 3 too high 13 SureContact – Newsletters, Email Marketing, Automation, Revenue Tracking & CRM 10K+ · 4.8★ (21) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 Social Media Auto Poster – Schedule & Publish to Buffer 7K+ · 4.5★ (125) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 Back In Stock Notifier for WooCommerce | WooCommerce Waitlist Pro 20K+ · 4.7★ (122) wp.org #18 ↓2 3 too low 16 ActiveLayer Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for Forms & Comments 10K+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #19 ↑3 3 too low 17 GD Mail Queue 700+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #17 18 Mass Email To Users 800+ · 3.1★ (8) wp.org #10 8 too high 19 A Action Scheduler 20K+ · 3.5★ (13) wp.org #22 ↓1 3 too low 20 Benchmark Email Lite 1K+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #11 9 too high 21 Magic API Email 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 6 too high 22 iConvert Email Marketer 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too high 23 Mailer Dragon – Email Marketing Plugin for WordPress 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too high 24 AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.