wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “hidden content”

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 “hidden content”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 2 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

Cookies and Content Security Policy shows at wp.org #9 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.9★ average from 67 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 2143 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #1 2

Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #2 3

WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #3 4

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #8 4 too low 5

Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #4 1 too high 6

Easy Table of Contents 600K+ · 4.4★ (221) wp.org #7 1 too low 7

Timed Content 5K+ · 4.6★ (41) wp.org #5 2 too high 8

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) heavy footprint wp.org #10 2 too low 9

SimpleTOC – Table of Contents Block 10K+ · 4.9★ (77) wp.org #12 ↑4 3 too low 10

MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #6 4 too high 11

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #21 ↑3 10 too low 12

Content Visibility for Divi Builder 2K+ · 4.8★ (101) wp.org #13 1 too low 13

WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565) wp.org #19 ↑2 6 too low 14

Cookies and Content Security Policy 10K+ · 4.9★ (67) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #9 6 too high 16

All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #22 ↑1 6 too low 17

GetGenie – AI SEO Assistant & Content Writer with Keyword Research, AEO & GEO 70K+ · 4.8★ (119) heavy footprint wp.org #20 ↑2 3 too low 18

Specific Content For Mobile – Customize the mobile version without redirections 4K+ · 4.8★ (31) wp.org #15 3 too high 19

Archive Content with Archived Post Status 5K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too high 20

Restrict – membership, site, content and user access restrictions for WordPress 2K+ · 4.2★ (25) wp.org #14 6 too high 21

Lightbox & Modal Popup WordPress Plugin – FooBox 100K+ · 3.9★ (95) wp.org #23 2 too low 22

Heroic Table of Contents 5K+ · 4.7★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #17 ↑1 5 too high 23

Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts 5K+ · 4.7★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #24 1 too low 24

Content Unpublisher 80+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #18 ↑2 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.