wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “impact filter”

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 “impact filter”, 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

Statify Filter shows at wp.org #3 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 19 places. Its 2K+ 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

Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection places #11 on merit, 4.6★ from 3992 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 signals wp.org

Wired Impact Volunteer Management 1K+ · 4.8★ (24) thin reviews wp.org #1 2

Beautiful taxonomy filters 2K+ · 4.9★ (68) wp.org #2 3

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #5 2 too low 4

Redirection 2M+ · 4.4★ (703) wp.org #4 5

Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #6 1 too low 6

Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #9 3 too low 7

Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too low 8

Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too high 9

W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #14 ↑2 5 too low 10

Safelayout Cute Preloader – CSS3 WordPress Preloader 10K+ · 5.0★ (84) wp.org #13 3 too low 11

Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #19 ↑1 8 too low 12

WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #18 ↑5 6 too low 13

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #15 ↓6 2 too low 14

hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #17 ↓5 3 too low 15

ShopEngine – All-in-One Elementor WooCommerce Builder with eCommerce Templates & Woo Widgets 100K+ · 4.6★ (212) wp.org #22 ↓5 7 too low 16

Lightweight Accordion 10K+ · 5.0★ (60) wp.org #21 ↓2 5 too low 17

WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #12 5 too high 18

SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #23 ↓8 5 too low 19

ElasticPress 8K+ · 4.2★ (30) wp.org #16 ↓2 3 too high 20

Advanced Accordion Gutenberg Block – Create Beautiful FAQs, Content Accordions & Interactive Tabs 9K+ · 4.1★ (34) wp.org #24 ↓2 4 too low 21

BuddyPress Activity Filter 300+ · 3.5★ (14) thin reviews wp.org #11 10 too high 22

Statify Filter 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #3 19 too high 23

Events Slider, Events Carousel, Events Grid, Events Timeline and Events Filter Bar for The Events Calendar – Eventful 400+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↓2 3 too high 24

WP Plugin Filter 20+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #10 14 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.