wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “five star”

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 “five star”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 8 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

Five-Star Ratings Shortcode shows at wp.org #3 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress places #7 on merit, 4.7★ from 1511 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Five Star Restaurant Reservations – WordPress Booking Plugin 10K+ · 4.7★ (211) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #1 ↑2 2

Five Star Business Profile and Schema 7K+ · 4.8★ (52) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #2 ↓1 3

Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #7 ↑2 4 too low 4

Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491) wp.org #8 4 too low 5

Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 1M+ · 4.9★ (4755) wp.org #10 ↑1 5 too low 6

Five Star Restaurant Menu and Food Ordering 5K+ · 4.6★ (107) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #4 2 too high 7

Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (1511) wp.org #14 ↑1 7 too low 8

Rich Showcase for Google Reviews 100K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #15 ↑2 7 too low 9

Rate My Post – Star Rating Plugin by FeedbackWP 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #6 ↑1 3 too high 10

BlogVault Backup & Staging 80K+ · 4.6★ (332) wp.org #11 ↑1 1 too low 11

Featured Images in RSS for Mailchimp & More 20K+ · 4.3★ (113) wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too high 12

Auto-Install Free SSL – Generate & Install Free SSL Certificates 8K+ · 4.9★ (405) wp.org #19 ↑1 7 too low 13

Five Star Restaurant Reviews 400+ · 4.9★ (14) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #5 8 too high 14

GeoDirectory – WP Business Directory Plugin and Classified Listings Directory 10K+ · 4.8★ (716) heavy footprint wp.org #20 ↑1 6 too low 15

WP Migrate Lite – Migration Made Easy 200K+ · 4.2★ (318) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #12 ↑1 3 too high 16

Popup Builder & Popup Maker for WordPress – OptinMonster Email Marketing and Lead Generation 1M+ · 4.3★ (821) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #13 ↑1 3 too high 17

Like Button Rating ♥ LikeBtn 3K+ · 4.4★ (273) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #17 ↑1 18

GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #22 4 too low 19

Five-Star Ratings Shortcode 500+ · 4.2★ (5) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint thin reviews wp.org #3 ↓1 16 too high 20

Search & Replace Everything – Quick and Easy Way to Find and Replace Text, Links 20K+ · 4.7★ (26) wp.org #18 ↑1 2 too high 21

Stock Manager for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.2★ (130) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #16 5 too high 22

White Label – WordPress Custom Admin, Custom Login Page, and Custom Dashboard 10K+ · 5.0★ (21) thin reviews wp.org #23 1 too low 23

SMS Alert – SMS Notifications & OTP Login, COD Verification, Abandoned Cart Recovery 3K+ · 4.6★ (35) wp.org #24 1 too low 24

Linguator – AI Auto Translate & Create Multilingual Sites 3K+ · 4.6★ (20) not PHP-current thin reviews 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.