Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “hub”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 6 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

CI HUB Connector shows at wp.org #5 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content places #5 on merit, 4.5★ from 565 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #1 2 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #2 3 xSpeed Cache: AI-Powered Performance Hub with MCP, Caching & CDN 10K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #11 ↑1 7 too low 5 WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565) wp.org #16 ↓3 11 too low 6 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #14 ↑3 8 too low 7 3CX Free Live Chat, Calls & Messaging 100K+ · 4.6★ (820) wp.org #18 11 too low 8 ThinkRank SEO – AI SEO Plugin for SEO & Google Search Console 20K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 Docket Cache – Object Cache Accelerator 20K+ · 4.9★ (50) wp.org #12 ↑2 3 too low 10 WSB HUB3 1K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #10 11 Presto Player 100K+ · 4.8★ (346) wp.org #21 ↓1 10 too low 12 BjornTech Fortnox Hub for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #4 ↓1 8 too high 13 weDocs: AI Powered Knowledge Base, Docs, Documentation, Wiki & AI Chatbot 5K+ · 4.6★ (69) wp.org #20 ↑1 7 too low 14 WebSub (FKA. PubSubHubbub) 100K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #7 7 too high 15 Gutenberg 400K+ · 2.1★ (3888) wp.org #15 16 ReCrawler 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #19 3 too low 17 Jetpack Social 30K+ · 3.3★ (74) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Gelato Integration for WooCommerce 5K+ · 3.3★ (12) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 CI HUB Connector 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 14 too high 20 Image Hub – Free Images from Unsplash, Pixabay, Pexels, Openverse & Giphy 10K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 12 too high 21 Satispay for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.0★ (8) wp.org #23 ↑1 2 too low 22 Vindi Hub 70+ · 2.6★ (11) wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too high 23 Submissions Hub for Divi 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 14 too high 24 MSN Partner Hub 1K+ · 2.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↓2 11 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.