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

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 “hostgator”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

Real IP Restore for Cloudflare shows at wp.org #7 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 70+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

SSL Zen — SSL Certificate Installer & HTTPS Redirects places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 665 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1644) wp.org #1 2

Document Gallery 8K+ · 4.8★ (112) wp.org #2 3

SportsPress – Sports Club & League Manager 10K+ · 4.7★ (369) wp.org #3 4

Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373) wp.org #5 1 too low 5

Favicon by RealFaviconGenerator 200K+ · 4.9★ (802) wp.org #13 8 too low 6

Active Directory/LDAP Integration for Cloud & Shared Hosting Platforms 40+ · 4.9★ (39) wp.org #6 7

SSL Zen — SSL Certificate Installer & HTTPS Redirects 9K+ · 4.9★ (665) wp.org #18 11 too low 8

Mu Manager – Manage mu-plugins like standard plugins 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #4 4 too high 9

BlogVault Backup & Staging 80K+ · 4.6★ (332) wp.org #16 7 too low 10

Gallery PhotoBlocks 3K+ · 5.0★ (76) wp.org #14 4 too low 11

Connect Matomo – Analytics Dashboard for WordPress 60K+ · 4.5★ (95) wp.org #17 6 too low 12

SAR Friendly SMTP 2K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #15 3 too low 13

Spiffy Calendar 2K+ · 4.9★ (38) wp.org #21 8 too low 14

SAR One Click Security 200+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviewsstale but ranked wp.org #9 5 too high 15

1-Click WordPress Migration Plugin – Backup, Migrate & Clone 400+ · 4.5★ (40) wp.org #19 4 too low 16

Transferito: WP Migration 300+ · 4.5★ (16) thin reviews wp.org #20 4 too low 17 R Restrict Products by Country & Country Catalogs for WooCommerce 200+ · 4.7★ (15) thin reviews wp.org #22 5 too low 18

PressForward 100+ · 4.6★ (11) thin reviews wp.org #23 5 too low 19

HIPAA Forms 700+ · 4.3★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #24 5 too low 20

Real IP Restore for Cloudflare 70+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #7 13 too high 21

Trinity Backup – Backup, Migrate, Restore, Clone & Schedule Backups 100+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #8 13 too high 22

TSP Scale Mailer — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #10 12 too high 23

PressVitals Site Auditor — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #11 12 too high 24

Sentient AI — WordPress SEO Domination: AI-Powered GEO, AEO, Schema & Semantic Search — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #12 12 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.