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

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 “friendly”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 5 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

Disable and Remove Google Fonts | GDPR & DSGVO friendly shows at wp.org #7 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 100K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 46 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 27821 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (759) wp.org #1 2 Popup Builder – Create highly converting, mobile friendly marketing popups. 200K+ · 4.7★ (2215) wp.org #3 ↑7 1 too low 3 Koko Analytics – Privacy-Friendly WordPress Analytics 70K+ · 5.0★ (245) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 D Disable Emojis (GDPR friendly) 60K+ · 5.0★ (108) wp.org #5 ↓2 1 too low 5 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #9 ↓1 4 too low 6 Friendly Captcha for WordPress 10K+ · 3.9★ (18) wp.org #2 4 too high 7 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8 Photo Gallery by 10Web – Mobile-Friendly Image Gallery 100K+ · 4.5★ (1581) wp.org #8 ↓3 9 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #15 ↑1 6 too low 10 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #10 ↑3 11 SAR Friendly SMTP 2K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 WP Mobile Menu – The Mobile-Friendly Responsive Menu 70K+ · 4.7★ (256) wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too low 13 Disable and Remove Google Fonts | GDPR & DSGVO friendly 100K+ · 4.5★ (46) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #11 ↓2 3 too high 15 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #18 3 too low 16 Form Maker by 10Web – Mobile-Friendly Drag & Drop Contact Form Builder 30K+ · 4.5★ (778) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 WPtouch – Make your WordPress Website Mobile-Friendly 40K+ · 3.7★ (341) wp.org #19 2 too low 18 Matomo Analytics – Powerful, Privacy-First Insights for WordPress 100K+ · 4.6★ (178) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 Search Insights – Privacy-Friendly Search Analytics 3K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #16 3 too high 20 MOBILOOK — Mobile View & Mobile‑Friendly Test 1K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 Captcha by BestWebSoft – Advanced Spam Protection, Math & OCR-Friendly Captcha for Site Forms 10K+ · 4.1★ (21) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Axeptio – Cookie Banner – GDPR Consent & Compliance with a friendly touch 8K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #20 ↑1 2 too high 23 Friendly Functions for Welcart 900+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #17 ↓1 6 too high 24 W WP Print Friendly 500+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #21 ↓1 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.