wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “go”
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 “go”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 4 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
Go Redirects URL Forwarder shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 800+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 5209 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #1 2 
Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3004)
wp.org #3 ↑3 1 too low 3 
Go Live Update Urls 90K+ · 4.5★ (59)
wp.org #2 1 too high 4 
WP Go Maps – Google Map, OpenStreetMap, Leaflet Map 300K+ · 4.8★ (3055) not PHP-current
wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706)
wp.org #10 5 too low 6 
TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625)
wp.org #12 6 too low 7 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 #16 9 too low 8 
The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461)
wp.org #14 6 too low 9 
WP Go Maps Block 3K+ · 5.0★ (19) thin reviews
wp.org #6 ↓1 3 too high 10 
Yoast Duplicate Post 3M+ · 4.7★ (538) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #7 3 too high 11 
WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #9 2 too high 12 
All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720)
wp.org #19 7 too low 13 
Save & Go 200+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews
wp.org #4 ↓1 9 too high 14 
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408)
wp.org #17 3 too low 15 
Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #23 8 too low 16 
WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346)
wp.org #20 ↑2 4 too low 17 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #22 ↓2 5 too low 18 
BuddyPress 90K+ · 4.1★ (375)
wp.org #21 3 too low 19 
Go Fetch Jobs (for WP Job Manager) 600+ · 4.5★ (28)
wp.org #13 6 too high 20 
WP Crontrol 300K+ · 4.4★ (167)
wp.org #24 ↓1 4 too low 21 
WPC Product Bundles for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.4★ (220) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #18 ↓1 3 too high 22 Go Redirects URL Forwarder 800+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews
wp.org #8 14 too high 23 
WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments 800K+ · 3.4★ (177) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #15 8 too high 24 
dLocal Go Payments 400+ · 4.0★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #11 13 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.