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← Rankings

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

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 “frontend”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Frontend Dashicons shows at wp.org #7 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #6 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 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 ACF Frontend Admin by DynamiApps 8K+ · 4.5★ (160) wp.org #1 2 WCFM – Frontend Manager for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.5★ (286) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission 20K+ · 4.1★ (537) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Frontend Dashboard 500+ · 4.9★ (136) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 WP Frontend Delete Account 4K+ · 4.6★ (27) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #15 ↓1 9 too low 7 Frontend Reset Password 10K+ · 4.4★ (38) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too high 8 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #16 ↑1 8 too low 9 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #13 3 too low 11 WP Frontend Admin – Display WP Admin Pages in the Frontend 400+ · 4.9★ (54) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 Frontend Post Submission Manager Lite – Guest Post and Frontend Submission Forms 1K+ · 4.5★ (22) wp.org #9 3 too high 13 Frontend Product Editor for WooCommerce 400+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 Simple Custom CSS and JS 600K+ · 4.4★ (104) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 My WP Customize Admin/Frontend 8K+ · 4.3★ (16) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 Frontend View For Headless CMS 100+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 Frontend User Notes 70+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #20 ↑4 3 too low 18 Easy Post Submission – Frontend Posting, Guest Publishing & Submit Content for WordPress 4K+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #22 ↓6 4 too low 19 FrontEdit – Live Frontend Block Editor 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too high 20 Frontend Dashicons 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 13 too high 21 Frontend Editor ACF 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↑1 4 too high 22 Frontend Dashboard Captcha 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↑1 4 too high 23 Frontend File Upload 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↑1 4 too high 24 Frontend Gatekeeper 40+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.