wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “green web”
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 “green web”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20.
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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.
Ranked above its merit
Printcart Store – Web to Print Product Designer for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #12 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 60+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.1★ average from 12 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 1138 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.
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821)
wp.org #2 1 too low 2 
Super Web Share – Native Social Sharing Button 2K+ · 4.9★ (29)
wp.org #1 1 too high 3 
WP Encryption: Easy HTTPS / SSL & Free SSL certificate, HTTPS redirect 50K+ · 4.9★ (1146)
wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too low 4 
Quiz Maker by AYS 20K+ · 4.9★ (601)
wp.org #7 ↑2 3 too low 5 
WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (199)
wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 
BerqWP – All-In-One Optimization for Core Web Vitals, Cache, CDN, Images, CSS & JavaScript 4K+ · 4.3★ (54)
wp.org #4 2 too high 7 
Easy Optimizer – PageSpeed, Cache & Core Web Vitals (Unused CSS, Delay JS, Lazy Load) 1K+ · 4.6★ (18) thin reviews
wp.org #3 4 too high 8 
iubenda | All-in-one Compliance for GDPR / CCPA Cookie Consent + more 200K+ · 4.7★ (397)
wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 
Greenshift – animation and page builder blocks 70K+ · 4.8★ (107)
wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too high 10 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138)
wp.org #15 ↑1 5 too low 11 
Geo Mashup 1K+ · 4.7★ (33)
wp.org #11 12 
WebP Express 300K+ · 4.4★ (162)
wp.org #17 5 too low 13 
Version Info – Server Health Monitor, PHP & MySQL Version Display, Environment Indicators 10K+ · 5.0★ (15) thin reviews
wp.org #10 3 too high 14 
Kraken.io Image Optimizer – Compress, Convert to WebP & AVIF, Resize & Bulk Optimize 10K+ · 4.5★ (119)
wp.org #19 5 too low 15 
Currency Converter Widget 2K+ · 4.9★ (88)
wp.org #18 3 too low 16 
WidgetKit for Elementor – Lightweight Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 7K+ · 4.5★ (35)
wp.org #13 3 too high 17 
OMGF | GDPR/DSGVO Compliant, Faster Google Fonts. Easy. 300K+ · 4.7★ (213)
wp.org #23 6 too low 18 
Nexter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder & AI Website Builder 9K+ · 4.8★ (90)
wp.org #21 3 too low 19 
WP-DBManager 50K+ · 4.4★ (95)
wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too low 20 
Invisible Anti-Spam & CAPTCHA — reCAPTCHA Alternative for All Forms 5K+ · 4.8★ (50)
wp.org #24 4 too low 21 
Layouts for Elementor 1K+ · 4.7★ (14) thin reviews
wp.org #14 7 too high 22 Printcart Store – Web to Print Product Designer for WooCommerce 60+ · 4.1★ (12) thin reviews
wp.org #12 10 too high 23 
Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #16 ↓1 7 too high 24 
Virusdie | One-click website security 2K+ · 4.0★ (9) thin reviews
wp.org #22 2 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.