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

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 “guideline”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 2 of the top 20. 6 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

Hostinger Reach – AI-Powered Email Marketing for WordPress shows at wp.org #15 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 1M+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #1 2 The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) wp.org #2 3 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP 100K+ · 4.5★ (252) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 Translate WordPress with Weglot 2.0 – Multilingual AI Translation 50K+ · 4.8★ (1940) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too low 9 User Switching 200K+ · 4.9★ (238) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1916) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too low 11 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Favicon by RealFaviconGenerator 200K+ · 4.9★ (802) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (195) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 WP Accessibility 60K+ · 4.8★ (68) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too high 15 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too high 16 GDPR Cookie Compliance – Cookie Banner, Cookie Consent, Cookie Notice for CCPA, EU Cookie Law 300K+ · 4.6★ (205) wp.org #17 1 too low 17 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #19 ↑4 2 too low 18 We’re Open! 5K+ · 5.0★ (45) wp.org #18 19 UPI QR Code Payment Gateway for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (256) wp.org #22 ↓1 3 too low 20 Custom Fonts – Host Your Fonts Locally 400K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #23 ↑1 3 too low 21 Accessibility New Window Warnings 1K+ · 4.8★ (17) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22 Hostinger Reach – AI-Powered Email Marketing for WordPress 1M+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 UTM Event Tracker and Analytics, UTM Grabber 800+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too high 24 Catch Web Tools 10K+ · 5.0★ (3) 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.