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← Rankings

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

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 “industry”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Hostinger Reach – AI-Powered Email Marketing for WordPress shows at wp.org #8 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 1M+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 4514 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. 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 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #2 3 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 #3 4 MalCare WordPress Security Plugin – Malware Scanner, Cleaner, Security Firewall 100K+ · 4.4★ (559) wp.org #4 ↑3 5 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 SMTP2GO for WordPress – Email Made Easy 40K+ · 5.0★ (67) wp.org #6 ↓2 7 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (199) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514) wp.org #14 ↓2 6 too low 9 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #11 ↑3 2 too low 10 Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 1M+ · 4.9★ (4755) wp.org #15 ↑1 5 too low 11 Redux Framework 900K+ · 4.4★ (273) wp.org #9 ↓4 2 too high 12 JetBackup – Backup, Restore & Migrate 200K+ · 4.5★ (1056) wp.org #17 5 too low 13 WPVR – 360 Panorama viewer and Virtual Tour Builder for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (133) wp.org #13 ↓4 14 Meow Lightbox 10K+ · 4.9★ (190) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 SportsPress – Sports Club & League Manager 10K+ · 4.7★ (369) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 Instapage Plugin 4K+ · 4.8★ (218) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 Booking Package 10K+ · 4.0★ (15) wp.org #7 ↑11 10 too high 18 Radius Portfolio – Filterable Grid, Gallery & Slider Portfolio 7K+ · 4.6★ (38) wp.org #16 ↓3 2 too high 19 Hostinger Reach – AI-Powered Email Marketing for WordPress 1M+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #8 11 too high 20 Cachebuster 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #18 ↓3 2 too high 21 Rox Appointment Booking – Event, Calendar & Appointment Scheduling 2K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Layouts for Divi 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #23 ↓2 1 too low 23 WooCommerce Payfast Gateway 30K+ · 3.0★ (7) wp.org #12 ↓1 11 too high 24 Universally – AI Translation & Multilingual SEO: Translate Your Site into 110+ Languages 30K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↑2 3 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.