wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “is front”
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 “is front”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 4 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
Front Page Scheduler shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.6★ average from 9 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 8869 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.
Front End PM 4K+ · 4.8★ (220)
wp.org #1 2 
TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #2 3 
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821)
wp.org #3 ↑1 4 
Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445)
wp.org #4 ↓1 5 
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143)
wp.org #7 2 too low 6 
UsersWP – Front-end login form, User Registration, User Profile & Members Directory plugin for WP 20K+ · 4.7★ (183)
wp.org #6 7 
User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738)
wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too low 8 
User Submitted Posts – Enable Users to Submit Posts from the Front End 10K+ · 4.8★ (913)
wp.org #11 ↑1 3 too low 9 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869)
wp.org #16 ↑8 7 too low 10 
Post Types Order 600K+ · 4.5★ (296)
wp.org #10 ↑1 11 
Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397)
wp.org #14 ↓1 3 too low 12 
LightStart – Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder 400K+ · 4.3★ (874)
wp.org #15 ↑2 3 too low 13 
Dynamic Front-End Heartbeat Control 1K+ · 4.8★ (12) thin reviews
wp.org #5 8 too high 14 
Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276)
wp.org #13 ↑6 1 too high 15 
Beaver Builder Page Builder – Drag and Drop Website Builder 100K+ · 4.7★ (394)
wp.org #20 ↓2 5 too low 16 
Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) not PHP-current
wp.org #12 ↓4 4 too high 17 
My Calendar – Accessible Event Manager 20K+ · 4.7★ (159)
wp.org #17 ↓3 18 
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) not PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #23 5 too low 19 
User Role Editor 700K+ · 4.5★ (288)
wp.org #22 3 too low 20 
Yoast Duplicate Post 3M+ · 4.7★ (538) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #19 ↓4 1 too high 21 
Guest posting / Frontend Posting / Front Editor – WP Front User Submit 100+ · 5.0★ (22) not PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #18 ↓2 3 too high 22 Front Page Scheduler 200+ · 4.6★ (9) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #8 ↑1 14 too high 23 
Jamie's Front-End Editor for Content Teams 100+ · 4.6★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too high 24 
Front Page Custom Post Type 90+ · 3.4★ (5) thin reviews
wp.org #24 ↓3 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.