wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “expert html section”
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 “expert html section”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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
AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot shows at wp.org #1 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 22 places. Its 2K+ 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
WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 5209 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.
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387)
wp.org #3 2 too low 2 
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) not PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #2 3 
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144)
wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too low 4 
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 #4 5 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706)
wp.org #8 ↑3 3 too low 6 
ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051)
wp.org #7 ↑3 1 too low 7 
Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) heavy footprint
wp.org #6 ↑9 1 too high 8 
Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517)
wp.org #10 ↑4 2 too low 9 
Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 1M+ · 4.9★ (4755)
wp.org #12 ↓3 3 too low 10 
Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) not PHP-current
wp.org #9 ↑3 1 too high 11 
Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528)
wp.org #11 ↓6 12 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 #17 5 too low 13 
Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807)
wp.org #16 ↓8 3 too low 14 
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408)
wp.org #13 ↓6 1 too high 15 
All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720)
wp.org #18 3 too low 16 
WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346)
wp.org #15 ↑1 1 too high 17 
Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641)
wp.org #14 ↓1 3 too high 18 
Product Addons for Woocommerce – Product Options with Custom Fields 30K+ · 4.9★ (474)
wp.org #24 6 too low 19 
Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612)
wp.org #21 ↓2 2 too low 20 
Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) not PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #20 21 
The Post Grid – Shortcode, Gutenberg Blocks and Elementor Addon for Post Grid 100K+ · 4.8★ (265)
wp.org #23 2 too low 22 
Loginizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1033) not PHP-current
wp.org #19 ↑2 3 too high 23 AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #1 22 too high 24 
Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #22 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.