Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “expires”

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 “expires”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 3 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

Variation Auto Expire For WooCommerce shows at wp.org #6 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 200+ 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

WP Performance Score Booster – Optimize Speed, Enable Cache & Page Preload places #12 on merit, 4.6★ from 339 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Temporary Login Without Password 90K+ · 5.0★ (1549) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 301 Redirects – Redirect Manager 300K+ · 4.7★ (578) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too low 4 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Expire User Passwords 3K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #1 ↑1 4 too high 6 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 HurryTimer – An Scarcity and Urgency Countdown Timer for WordPress & WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.8★ (170) wp.org #9 ↑3 2 too low 8 AEH Speed Optimization: Browser Cache, Optimized Minify, Lazy Loading & Image Optimization 2K+ · 3.2★ (20) wp.org #2 ↓1 6 too high 9 Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270) wp.org #12 ↓2 3 too low 10 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #16 ↑4 6 too low 11 Depicter — Popup & Slider Builder 70K+ · 4.6★ (235) wp.org #11 ↓3 12 WP Performance Score Booster – Optimize Speed, Enable Cache & Page Preload 10K+ · 4.6★ (339) wp.org #20 ↓4 8 too low 13 HTTP Headers 40K+ · 4.3★ (70) wp.org #13 ↑4 14 Prevent Direct Access – Protect WordPress Files 10K+ · 4.6★ (297) wp.org #24 ↓3 10 too low 15 Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content 10K+ · 4.2★ (60) wp.org #8 ↓2 7 too high 16 Wallet for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.7★ (188) wp.org #18 ↓4 2 too low 17 WP Express Checkout (Fast Payments via PayPal & Stripe) 1K+ · 4.9★ (32) wp.org #21 ↑2 4 too low 18 Product Attachment for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.5★ (24) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too high 19 Far Future Expiry Header 6K+ · 3.2★ (31) wp.org #14 ↓2 5 too high 20 Speed Up – Browser Caching 700+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 WP-DraftsForFriends 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #22 ↓3 1 too low 22 Variation Auto Expire For WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 ↑1 16 too high 23 Product Expiry for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #23 24 Auto Post Expire 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓4 7 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.