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← Rankings

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

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 “find”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 2 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

Search & Replace Everything by WPCode – Find and Replace Media, Text, Links, and More shows at wp.org #12 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 20K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.9★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 8708 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Real-Time Find and Replace 70K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #1 2 Contact Form 7 10M+ · 4.0★ (2186) wp.org #2 ↑2 3 Better Find and Replace – AI-Powered Suggestions 40K+ · 4.6★ (171) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #5 ↑4 1 too low 5 Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1012) wp.org #4 ↑2 1 too high 6 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #8 ↑3 2 too low 7 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #7 8 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too low 9 Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87) wp.org #6 ↓1 3 too high 10 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #10 ↓7 11 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708) wp.org #21 ↑2 10 too low 12 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) wp.org #11 ↓3 1 too high 13 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #20 ↑4 7 too low 14 BuddyPress 90K+ · 4.1★ (375) wp.org #16 ↑2 2 too low 15 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 String locator 100K+ · 4.6★ (125) wp.org #17 ↑2 1 too low 17 Search & Replace Everything – Quick and Easy Way to Find and Replace Text, Links 20K+ · 4.7★ (26) wp.org #13 ↑2 4 too high 18 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 Shortcodes Finder 4K+ · 4.9★ (53) wp.org #19 ↑1 20 Search & Replace Everything by WPCode – Find and Replace Media, Text, Links, and More 20K+ · 3.9★ (7) wp.org #12 ↑2 8 too high 21 Text Replace – Find and Replace WordPress Strings 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 ↓1 7 too high 22 Easy Search Replace – Find & Replace Text/HTML/URLs, Remove Footer Credit 700+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #18 ↑3 4 too high 23 SEO'n'AI – Image Locator & Find Unused Images 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↑1 8 too high 24 Footprint – Find what slows your site 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓2

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.