Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “https”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

Hostinger Tools shows at wp.org #8 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 3M+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.5★ average from 40 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 1667 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Encryption: Easy HTTPS / SSL & Free SSL certificate, HTTPS redirect 50K+ · 4.9★ (1146) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too low 2 Easy HTTPS Redirection (SSL) 100K+ · 4.2★ (71) wp.org #1 ↑1 1 too high 3 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #3 4 WP Force SSL & HTTPS SSL Redirect 80K+ · 4.7★ (179) wp.org #4 5 SSL Zen — SSL Certificate Installer & HTTPS Redirects 9K+ · 4.9★ (665) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 HTTP Headers 40K+ · 4.3★ (70) wp.org #5 ↑2 2 too high 8 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #16 ↑2 7 too low 10 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #17 ↓5 7 too low 11 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #19 ↓3 8 too low 12 Lightbox with PhotoSwipe 20K+ · 4.9★ (115) wp.org #15 ↓2 3 too low 13 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) wp.org #23 ↓2 10 too low 14 H HTTP 410 (Gone) responses 4K+ · 4.6★ (21) wp.org #11 3 too high 15 Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP 90K+ · 4.8★ (80) wp.org #20 ↓5 5 too low 16 JSM Force HTTP to HTTPS / SSL – No Setup, Fast and Reliable 7K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #7 ↓1 9 too high 17 WP Cron HTTP Auth 1K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #12 ↑2 5 too high 18 SSL Insecure Content Fixer 100K+ · 4.8★ (221) wp.org #22 ↑1 4 too low 19 HTTP Requests Manager 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #10 9 too high 20 Hostinger Tools 3M+ · 3.5★ (40) wp.org #8 12 too high 21 Ocean Social Sharing 60K+ · 4.5★ (11) wp.org #13 ↑4 8 too high 22 HTTP Security Header 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Ocean Product Sharing 20K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↑2 5 too high 24 Simple HTTPS 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓2 3 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.