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

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 “iis”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

IP Address Widget II shows at wp.org #6 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Hide & Security Enhancer places #10 on merit, 4.3★ from 275 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #1 ↑1 2

WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #2 ↓1 3

Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373) wp.org #4 ↑13 1 too low 4

Prime Mover – Backup and Migration 10K+ · 5.0★ (141) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5

XO Security 30K+ · 5.0★ (11) thin reviews wp.org #3 2 too high 6

Media Library Folders 10K+ · 4.3★ (465) wp.org #11 ↑2 5 too low 7

WebP Express 300K+ · 4.4★ (162) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too low 8

WP-DBManager 50K+ · 4.4★ (95) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too low 9

FastDup – Fastest WordPress Migration & Duplicator 5K+ · 4.6★ (27) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too high 10

WP Hide & Security Enhancer 50K+ · 4.3★ (275) wp.org #17 ↑3 7 too low 11

Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP 90K+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #18 7 too low 12

xSpeed Cache: AI-Powered Performance Hub with MCP, Caching & CDN 10K+ · 5.0★ (22) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↑1 2 too low 13

Weaver Show Posts 5K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #7 ↓2 6 too high 14

Leverage Browser Caching 9K+ · 4.1★ (42) wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too high 15 H Hotfix 4K+ · 4.7★ (18) thin reviews wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too high 16

FAZ Cookie Manager 3K+ · 5.0★ (30) wp.org #20 ↓1 4 too low 17

Linguise – AI Automatic Multilingual Translation 1K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #23 ↓1 6 too low 18

The Hack Repair Guy’s Plugin Archiver 300+ · 5.0★ (11) thin reviews wp.org #24 6 too low 19

GD Security Headers 1K+ · 4.0★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #15 ↓1 4 too high 20

IP Address Widget II 100+ · 4.3★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #6 14 too high 21

Paytm Payment Gateway 3K+ · 3.1★ (15) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↑2 2 too high 22

PhonePe Payment Solutions 10K+ · 2.6★ (11) thin reviews wp.org #16 6 too high 23

Invoice for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #21 2 too high 24

Tabby Checkout 4K+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #22 ↑1 2 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.