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

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

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Simply Disable Comments shows at wp.org #15 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 8K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin signals wp.org

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8709) wp.org #1 2

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #3 1 too low 3

Forget Spam Comment 9K+ · 5.0★ (46) wp.org #2 1 too high 4

Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #5 1 too low 5

Spam Protection | Maspik 30K+ · 4.7★ (87) wp.org #4 1 too high 6

LoginPress | wp-login Custom Login Page Customizer 200K+ · 4.8★ (1077) wp.org #7 1 too low 7

WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 F Forget About Shortcode Buttons 20K+ · 4.7★ (69) stale but ranked wp.org #6 2 too high 9

Defender Security – Malware Scanner, Login Security & Firewall 80K+ · 4.8★ (334) wp.org #11 2 too low 10

Lightbox for Gallery & Image Block 20K+ · 5.0★ (88) wp.org #12 2 too low 11

Solid Mail – SMTP email and logging made by SolidWP 60K+ · 4.2★ (52) wp.org #9 2 too high 12

Tracking Code Manager 90K+ · 4.1★ (58) wp.org #10 2 too high 13

Smart User Slug Hider 2K+ · 4.9★ (55) wp.org #14 1 too low 14

Simply Schedule Appointments 50K+ · 5.0★ (155) wp.org #23 9 too low 15

WP OPcache 10K+ · 4.8★ (20) thin reviews wp.org #13 2 too high 16

Header and Footer Scripts 200K+ · 4.6★ (58) wp.org #17 1 too low 17

Jetpack Social 30K+ · 3.3★ (74) wp.org #16 1 too high 18

GDPR Data Request Form 5K+ · 4.9★ (14) thin reviews wp.org #21 3 too low 19

Real3D Flipbook – 3D Flipbook, PDF Flipbook, PDF Viewer, PDF Embedder 10K+ · 4.5★ (11) thin reviews wp.org #22 3 too low 20

Royal WordPress Backup, Restore & Migration Plugin – Backup WordPress Sites Safely 30K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #19 1 too high 21

Blogmentor – Blog Layouts for Elementor 4K+ · 4.7★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #18 3 too high 22 C Custom Content Width 900+ · 4.8★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #20 2 too high 23

Simply Disable Comments 8K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #15 8 too high 24

Flexible Cookies 4K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #24

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.