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← Rankings

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

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 to http”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

HTTP Requests Manager shows at wp.org #7 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Translate WordPress with GTranslate places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 4962 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 HTTP Headers 40K+ · 4.3★ (70) wp.org #1 2 WP Encryption: Easy HTTPS / SSL & Free SSL certificate, HTTPS redirect 50K+ · 4.9★ (1146) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Easy HTTPS Redirection (SSL) 100K+ · 4.2★ (71) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too high 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 too low 6 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #10 ↑1 4 too low 7 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too low 8 JSM Force HTTP to HTTPS / SSL – No Setup, Fast and Reliable 7K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #18 ↑4 9 too low 10 AddToAny Share Buttons 300K+ · 4.7★ (1114) wp.org #20 10 too low 11 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 #22 ↑1 11 too low 12 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #24 12 too low 13 WP Cron HTTP Auth 1K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #8 5 too high 14 Click to Chat – HoliThemes 600K+ · 4.8★ (131) wp.org #14 15 H HTTP 410 (Gone) responses 4K+ · 4.6★ (21) wp.org #9 6 too high 16 To Top 60K+ · 4.8★ (54) wp.org #17 1 too low 17 HTTP Requests Manager 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #7 10 too high 18 L Log HTTP Requests 2K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #11 ↓1 7 too high 19 Proxy Cache Purge 50K+ · 4.4★ (26) wp.org #12 ↑1 7 too high 20 Page Speed Optimizer: HTTP/2 Push, Async JavaScript, and Defer CSS 6K+ · 4.7★ (64) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 Ocean Social Sharing 60K+ · 4.5★ (11) wp.org #21 22 HTTP Auth 6K+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 HTTP Security Header 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 7 too high 24 Simple HTTPS 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 1 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.