Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “include”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 2 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.

I

Ranked above its merit

Include Matomo Tracking, by Jonas Hellmann shows at wp.org #7 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy places #6 on merit, 5.0★ from 4625 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Include Me 4K+ · 4.8★ (21) wp.org #1 2 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Include Mastodon Feed 800+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #2 ↑2 1 too high 4 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #8 ↑1 4 too low 5 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 #11 ↑3 6 too low 6 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #13 ↑4 7 too low 7 RPS Include Content 700+ · 4.9★ (18) wp.org #4 ↑1 3 too high 8 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #12 ↓2 4 too low 9 Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1012) wp.org #9 ↑2 10 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #10 ↑6 11 User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738) wp.org #15 ↑3 4 too low 12 301 Redirects – Redirect Manager 300K+ · 4.7★ (578) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #19 ↑4 6 too low 14 Filter Everything — WordPress & WooCommerce Filters 50K+ · 4.6★ (154) wp.org #14 ↑1 15 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 RSS Includes Pages 10K+ · 3.9★ (17) wp.org #5 ↑1 11 too high 17 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 Include Klaviyo for Elementor pro 2K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #6 ↑1 13 too high 20 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #20 21 Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #17 4 too high 22 Reviews and Rating – Google Reviews 20K+ · 4.9★ (184) wp.org #23 ↓2 1 too low 23 I Include Matomo Tracking, by Jonas Hellmann 500+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #7 ↑1 16 too high 24 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #18 ↑6 6 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.