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

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 “health”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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 it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

S

Ranked above its merit

Site Health Tools shows at wp.org #3 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Disable All WordPress Updates places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 69 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Umbrella: Security Backup Restore & Monitoring 80K+ · 4.8★ (79) wp.org #1 2 WP Server Health Stats 9K+ · 4.8★ (110) wp.org #2 3 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7507) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 600K+ · 4.8★ (406) wp.org #4 5 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8865) wp.org #11 6 too low 6 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2131) wp.org #12 6 too low 7 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27819) wp.org #15 8 too low 8 Redis Object Cache 500K+ · 4.4★ (178) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 WPVulnerability 10K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 Version Info – Server Health Monitor, PHP & MySQL Version Display, Environment Indicators 10K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 Disable All WordPress Updates 10K+ · 4.8★ (69) wp.org #22 11 too low 12 phpinfo() WP – Site Health, PHP Compatibility & Server Audit 3K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #6 6 too high 13 S Site Health Tools 400+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #3 10 too high 14 Performance Lab 100K+ · 4.3★ (51) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 Health Check & Troubleshooting 200K+ · 3.6★ (181) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 Server Info – System Health & Diagnostics Suite 3K+ · 3.7★ (11) wp.org #9 7 too high 17 Protect Uploads 30K+ · 4.8★ (12) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 Disable WP Notification 10K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 WP Healthcheck 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #13 6 too high 20 SKT Templates – 100% Free Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 20K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 Health Endpoint 3K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 5 too high 22 CFF Fitness and Health Operations 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 8 too high 23 icomm site health 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 Neurax Site Health Analyzer 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 6 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.