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

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 “installation”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Upload Larger Plugins shows at wp.org #10 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 6K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 20 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Encryption: Easy HTTPS / SSL & Free SSL certificate, HTTPS redirect places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 1146 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #1 ↑1 2

WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #3 ↓2 1 too low 3

Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #4 1 too low 4

Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #5 1 too low 5

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #9 ↑4 4 too low 6

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #6 ↑4 7

Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406) wp.org #11 ↓4 4 too low 8

WP Encryption: Easy HTTPS / SSL & Free SSL certificate, HTTPS redirect 50K+ · 4.9★ (1146) wp.org #16 ↑6 8 too low 9

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 #15 ↓7 6 too low 10

Firelight Lightbox 200K+ · 4.8★ (361) wp.org #13 ↓2 3 too low 11 B Bulk Plugin Installation 300+ · 3.6★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #2 ↑1 9 too high 12 S SSH SFTP Updater Support 10K+ · 4.8★ (99) wp.org #12 ↑5 13

WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments 800K+ · 3.4★ (177) wp.org #7 ↓2 6 too high 14

Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1489) wp.org #19 ↓13 5 too low 15

Better Search Replace 1M+ · 4.3★ (546) wp.org #14 ↓2 2 too high 17

WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #8 ↓4 9 too high 18

All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #21 ↓3 3 too low 19

NinjaFirewall (WP Edition) – Advanced Security Plugin and Firewall 100K+ · 4.9★ (220) wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too low 20 U Upload Larger Plugins 6K+ · 5.0★ (20) thin reviews wp.org #10 ↓1 10 too high 21

reCaptcha by BestWebSoft 100K+ · 3.9★ (391) wp.org #18 ↑1 3 too high 22

MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites 700K+ · 5.0★ (71) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 too low 23

WP REST Cache 10K+ · 4.9★ (42) wp.org #24 1 too low 24

WP SAML Auth 7K+ · 4.5★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #22 ↓2 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.