Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “hosting”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 3 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

Livid – Video Hosting shows at wp.org #4 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Relevanssi – A Better Search places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 406 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #2 ↑2 1 too low 2 Hosting Benchmark tool 4K+ · 4.7★ (33) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #3 ↓3 4 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too low 7 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #13 ↑7 6 too low 8 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #15 ↓3 7 too low 9 Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1645) wp.org #17 ↓3 8 too low 10 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #10 ↑11 11 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #16 ↑7 5 too low 12 Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406) wp.org #23 ↓6 11 too low 13 Simply Static – The Static Site Generator 30K+ · 4.5★ (195) wp.org #19 ↓4 6 too low 14 OMGF | GDPR/DSGVO Compliant, Faster Google Fonts. Easy. 300K+ · 4.7★ (213) wp.org #20 ↓1 6 too low 15 VdoCipher: Secure Video Player and Hosting 2K+ · 4.2★ (14) wp.org #8 7 too high 16 Docket Cache – Object Cache Accelerator 20K+ · 4.9★ (50) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 Livid – Video Hosting 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #4 ↑3 13 too high 18 Hostinger Tools 3M+ · 3.5★ (40) wp.org #9 9 too high 19 Hostinger Reach – AI-Powered Email Marketing for WordPress 1M+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #14 ↓1 5 too high 20 Janolaw AGB Hosting 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 ↓2 13 too high 21 Aruba HiSpeed Cache 100K+ · 3.0★ (10) wp.org #21 ↑3 22 GoDAM – Video Hosting for LMS & Online Courses 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 atec Hosting Check 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 ↓1 11 too high 24 Spotlightr – Secure Video Hosting for WordPress, Courses & LearnDash 200+ · 5.0★ (2) 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.