wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “error logging”

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 “error logging”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20.

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

Error Log Viewer by BestWebSoft shows at wp.org #6 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 9 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Activity Log places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 490 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

WP Mail Logging 300K+ · 4.7★ (375) wp.org #1 2

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 #4 2 too low 3

Mail logging & Catcher 20K+ · 4.9★ (108) wp.org #3 4 E Error Log Monitor 20K+ · 4.3★ (48) wp.org #2 2 too high 5

404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring 100K+ · 4.7★ (321) wp.org #5 6

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) heavy footprint wp.org #7 ↑3 1 too low 7

Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging 90K+ · 4.8★ (292) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #9 2 too low 8

Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) not PHP-current wp.org #10 ↓4 2 too low 9

Debug Log Manager – Conveniently Monitor and Inspect Errors 10K+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #8 1 too high 10

Redirection 2M+ · 4.4★ (703) wp.org #12 2 too low 11

FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #14 ↑1 3 too low 12

WP Activity Log 300K+ · 4.7★ (490) wp.org #18 6 too low 13

Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491) wp.org #21 8 too low 14

Redis Object Cache 500K+ · 4.5★ (179) wp.org #15 ↑1 1 too low 15

All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #22 ↑1 7 too low 16

Solid Mail – SMTP email and logging made by SolidWP 60K+ · 4.2★ (52) wp.org #13 ↑1 3 too high 17

Error Log Viewer by BestWebSoft 5K+ · 4.8★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #6 ↑1 11 too high 18

Fatal Error Notify 6K+ · 4.8★ (18) thin reviews wp.org #11 7 too high 19

Safe Redirect Manager 40K+ · 4.7★ (78) wp.org #20 ↑2 1 too low 20

Sentry for WordPress 10K+ · 4.9★ (16) thin reviews wp.org #17 ↑2 3 too high 21 W WP Photo Album Plus 10K+ · 4.7★ (199) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #23 2 too low 22

Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) thin reviews wp.org #24 2 too low 23

WebAuthn Provider for Two Factor 2K+ · 4.6★ (11) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↑1 4 too high 24

BugSnag Error Monitoring plugin 2K+ · 3.7★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #16 ↑1 8 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.