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

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 “giving”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 3 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

Funraise Giving Form shows at wp.org #12 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 300+ 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

Insert PHP Code Snippet places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 707 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #1 2

Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #3 ↑2 1 too low 3

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) heavy footprint wp.org #2 1 too high 4

Permalink Manager Lite 100K+ · 4.8★ (176) wp.org #4 5

WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (759) wp.org #5 ↑3 6

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #8 ↓5 2 too low 7

Variation Swatches for WooCommerce – Color, Image & Size Swatches 200K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too high 8

FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #10 ↑3 2 too low 9

Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) heavy footprint wp.org #9 ↑9 10

Starter Templates & Sites Pack by ThemeGrill 70K+ · 4.7★ (197) not PHP-current wp.org #11 12

Insert PHP Code Snippet 90K+ · 4.9★ (707) wp.org #19 7 too low 13

Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #15 ↑2 2 too low 14

Social Feed Gallery 80K+ · 4.5★ (303) wp.org #20 6 too low 15

Meta Box – A Framework for Dynamic Websites 500K+ · 4.8★ (165) wp.org #18 ↓6 3 too low 16

Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #13 ↑1 3 too high 17

Podcast Player – Your Podcasting Companion 10K+ · 4.8★ (113) wp.org #22 ↓1 5 too low 18

Kirki – Freeform Page Builder, Website Builder & Customizer 500K+ · 4.5★ (81) wp.org #16 ↓7 2 too high 19

Hide Page And Post Title 40K+ · 3.6★ (54) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too high 20

Variation Swatches for WooCommerce 300K+ · 4.8★ (926) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #24 4 too low 21

Flying Scripts: Delay JavaScript to Improve Site Speed & Performance 30K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #21 ↓1 22

Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) thin reviews wp.org #23 1 too low 23

Duplicate Page and Post 70K+ · 4.6★ (29) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #17 ↓1 6 too high 24

Funraise Giving Form 300+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #12 ↓2 12 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.