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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “gmail validation”

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 “gmail validation”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

SMTP for Contact Form 7 shows at wp.org #8 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Email Subscribers & Newsletters by Icegram Express – Email Marketing, Post Notifications & WooCommerce Marekting Automation for WordPress places #9 on merit, 4.6★ from 1170 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #1 2 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #2 3 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #3 4 Contact Form by BestWebSoft – Advanced WP Contact Form Builder for WordPress 30K+ · 4.0★ (292) wp.org #4 5 Floating Chat Widget: Contact Chat Icons, Telegram Chat, Line Messenger, WeChat, Email, SMS, Call Button – Chaty 300K+ · 5.0★ (1244) wp.org #9 ↑2 4 too low 6 Contact Form Clean and Simple 7K+ · 4.7★ (195) wp.org #14 8 too low 7 Payment Button for PayPal 4K+ · 4.5★ (40) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 Contact Form Widget – Responsive Contact Form, Query Form & Form Builder 1K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 Email Subscribers & Newsletters by Icegram Express – Email Marketing, Post Notifications & WooCommerce Marekting Automation for WordPress 50K+ · 4.6★ (1170) wp.org #24 ↓15 15 too low 10 New User Approve 20K+ · 4.3★ (131) wp.org #22 12 too low 11 Antideo Email Validator 700+ · 3.5★ (14) wp.org #7 4 too high 12 Login Widget With Shortcode 5K+ · 3.8★ (29) wp.org #11 ↑1 1 too high 13 My Private Site – Make Your Whole Site Private, Force Login & Block Registration Spam 10K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #17 ↑2 4 too low 14 Easy Appointment Booking & Scheduling Plugin – Webba Booking Calendar 2K+ · 4.9★ (157) wp.org #20 ↑3 6 too low 15 WPMasterToolKit (WPMTK) – All in one plugin 5K+ · 5.0★ (28) wp.org #21 ↑3 6 too low 16 Nexter Extension – Security, Performance, Code Snippets & Site Toolkit 10K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #12 ↑6 4 too high 17 Online Booking & Scheduling Calendar by vcita 1K+ · 3.9★ (117) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 SMTP Mail Control for MailPoet 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #5 13 too high 19 WP Email Template 2K+ · 3.1★ (35) wp.org #15 ↑1 4 too high 20 Simple SMTP by Maileroo 800+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #18 ↑2 2 too high 21 Pro Mail SMTP 300+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #19 ↑3 2 too high 22 AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↑2 9 too high 23 UserCheck 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↑1 7 too high 24 SMTP for Contact Form 7 1K+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #8 16 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.