wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “front end”
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 “front end”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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
Jamie's Front-End Editor for Content Teams shows at wp.org #13 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.6★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Front End PM 4K+ · 4.8★ (220)
wp.org #1 2 
TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #2 3 
UsersWP – Front-end login form, User Registration, User Profile & Members Directory plugin for WP 20K+ · 4.7★ (183)
wp.org #3 4 
User Submitted Posts – Enable Users to Submit Posts from the Front End 10K+ · 4.8★ (913)
wp.org #5 1 too low 5 
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821)
wp.org #6 ↑2 1 too low 6 
Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445)
wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143)
wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too low 8 
User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738)
wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too low 9 
Beaver Builder Page Builder – Drag and Drop Website Builder 100K+ · 4.7★ (394)
wp.org #12 ↑1 3 too low 10 
Post Types Order 600K+ · 4.5★ (296)
wp.org #10 ↑1 11 
Dynamic Front-End Heartbeat Control 1K+ · 4.8★ (12) thin reviews
wp.org #4 7 too high 12 
Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397)
wp.org #15 3 too low 13 
Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) not PHP-current
wp.org #11 2 too high 14 
Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519)
wp.org #23 9 too low 15 
LightStart – Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder 400K+ · 4.3★ (874)
wp.org #18 ↑3 3 too low 16 
Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276)
wp.org #14 2 too high 17 
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) not PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #20 ↑4 3 too low 18 
User Role Editor 700K+ · 4.5★ (288)
wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19 
My Calendar – Accessible Event Manager 20K+ · 4.7★ (159)
wp.org #24 ↓7 5 too low 20 
Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641)
wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too low 21 
Category Order and Taxonomy Terms Order 500K+ · 4.5★ (162)
wp.org #22 1 too low 22 
Yoast Duplicate Post 3M+ · 4.7★ (538) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too high 23 Jamie's Front-End Editor for Content Teams 100+ · 4.6★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #13 ↓1 10 too high 24 
ImagePress – Front-End Photo Uploads & Member Galleries 200+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews
wp.org #16 8 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.