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

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 “inbox”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 3 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

PressedMail – Email Client, Inbox & Webmail shows at wp.org #9 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder places #11 on merit, 4.4★ from 1397 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #2 1 too low 2

Chatway Live Chat – AI Chatbot, Customer Support, FAQ & Helpdesk Customer Service & Chat Buttons 30K+ · 5.0★ (775) wp.org #3 1 too low 3

Cozy Blocks – Website Builder & Business Growth Toolkit | Popups, Lead Forms & Inbox 6K+ · 4.6★ (21) thin reviews wp.org #1 2 too high 4

WP Mail Logging 300K+ · 4.7★ (375) wp.org #4 ↓3 5

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #5 ↓2 6

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 #7 ↓1 1 too low 7

SMTP2GO for WordPress – Email Made Easy 40K+ · 5.0★ (67) wp.org #6 ↓2 1 too high 8

Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer 90K+ · 4.5★ (142) wp.org #10 ↓3 2 too low 9

Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #12 ↓3 3 too low 10

Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots 10K+ · 4.8★ (142) wp.org #13 ↓5 3 too low 11

Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #15 4 too low 12

Easy WP SMTP – WordPress SMTP and Email Logs: Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Outlook, Custom SMTP, and more 500K+ · 4.6★ (709) wp.org #16 ↓6 3 too low 14

Koko Analytics – Privacy-Friendly WordPress Analytics 70K+ · 5.0★ (245) wp.org #17 ↑5 3 too low 15

Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157) wp.org #11 ↑3 4 too high 16

SlimStat Analytics – Real-Time Stats, Heatmaps & Ecommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (816) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #20 4 too low 17

Crisp – Live Chat and AI Chatbot 20K+ · 4.6★ (73) wp.org #18 1 too low 18

Tidio – Live Chat & AI Chatbots 70K+ · 4.8★ (395) not PHP-current wp.org #22 ↓4 4 too low 19

Solid Mail – SMTP email and logging made by SolidWP 60K+ · 4.2★ (52) wp.org #23 ↓7 4 too low 20

PressedMail – Email Client, Inbox & Webmail 100+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #9 11 too high 21

AntiSpam for Contact Form 7 10K+ · 4.2★ (13) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓12 3 too low 22

NXT Cloud Chat – CRM, Inbox & OTP Login 30+ · 5.0★ (5) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #19 ↑2 3 too high 23

GoSMTP – SMTP for WordPress 500K+ · 4.3★ (10) host-installed base thin reviews wp.org #21 ↓4 2 too high 24

Inbox – Private Messaging, Guest Messages & Help Desk 10+ · 3.7★ (3) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #14 10 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.