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← Rankings

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

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 “filesystem”, 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

Custom SMTP: Email Deliverability – FREE & Easy-to-use shows at wp.org #14 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 200+ 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

My Private Site – Make Your Whole Site Private, Force Login & Block Registration Spam places #9 on merit, 4.5★ from 82 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Media Cleaner: Delete Unused Images & Clean Your Media Library 90K+ · 4.6★ (779) wp.org #1 2 Nginx Cache 8K+ · 4.6★ (24) wp.org #2 3 WPIDE – File Manager & Code Editor 40K+ · 4.8★ (306) wp.org #7 4 too low 4 The Paste 9K+ · 4.8★ (35) wp.org #4 5 Hosting Benchmark tool 4K+ · 4.7★ (33) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Inline Image Upload for BBPress 3K+ · 4.6★ (65) wp.org #11 5 too low 7 Mediavine Control Panel 10K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 Import WP – CSV & XML Import Export for WordPress 4K+ · 4.4★ (25) wp.org #8 9 My Private Site – Make Your Whole Site Private, Force Login & Block Registration Spam 10K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #17 8 too low 10 App for Cloudflare® 1K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 Remote Website Management by Watchful 3K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #12 1 too low 12 The Hack Repair Guy’s Plugin Archiver 300+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #19 ↑1 7 too low 13 Admin Robots.txt Editor 800+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 8 too high 14 ImageLinks – Interactive Image Builder with Hotspots 1K+ · 3.9★ (9) wp.org #10 4 too high 15 System Dashboard 900+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 WPHH SECURE – AIO WordPress Security With File Locking & WP Hide Login 100+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #16 ↓1 17 Nginx Cache Purge Preload 200+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #20 3 too low 18 Easy Symlinks 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too high 19 Alpaca Issue Tracker 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 UWH Site Migrator – WP Migration, Backup & Restore 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Jooosi Icon – Modern SVG icon library for WordPress 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 8 too high 22 I InstaMigrate 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too high 23 Custom SMTP: Email Deliverability – FREE & Easy-to-use 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↑2 9 too high 24 Gerdoo Orphan Media Cleaner 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 3 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.