wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “kadence”
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 “kadence”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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
Kadence Central – Site Management, Backups, Security, and Reporting shows at wp.org #6 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 30K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Use Any Font | Custom Font Uploader places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 1148 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) heavy footprint
wp.org #1 2 
Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992)
wp.org #2 3 
Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer 90K+ · 4.5★ (142)
wp.org #3 4 
Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519)
wp.org #9 5 too low 5 
SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267)
wp.org #10 ↑1 5 too low 6 
Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220)
wp.org #13 ↑1 7 too low 7 
Log cleaner for Kadence Security 7K+ · 5.0★ (22) thin reviews
wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too high 8 
Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) not PHP-current
wp.org #8 9 
WP Rollback – Rollback Plugins and Themes 200K+ · 4.9★ (215)
wp.org #14 ↓1 5 too low 10 
Kadence Starter Templates — Predesigned Website Templates 200K+ · 4.3★ (19) host-installed base thin reviews
wp.org #4 6 too high 11 
GeoDirectory – WP Business Directory Plugin and Classified Listings Directory 10K+ · 4.8★ (716) heavy footprint
wp.org #17 6 too low 12 Use Any Font | Custom Font Uploader 200K+ · 4.7★ (1148)
wp.org #24 12 too low 13 
WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (195)
wp.org #20 ↑2 7 too low 14 
YayMail – WooCommerce Email Customizer 50K+ · 4.8★ (291)
wp.org #21 7 too low 15 
Membership Plugin – Kadence Memberships 8K+ · 3.1★ (100) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #7 8 too high 16 
Disable and Remove Google Fonts | GDPR & DSGVO friendly 100K+ · 4.5★ (46) heavy footprint
wp.org #12 4 too high 17 
Image Source Control Lite – Show Image Credits and Captions 3K+ · 4.6★ (42)
wp.org #18 1 too low 18 
Event Tickets and Registration 90K+ · 3.5★ (236) heavy footprint
wp.org #19 ↓3 1 too low 19 
Dark Mode for WP Dashboard 3K+ · 4.8★ (34)
wp.org #22 ↓3 3 too low 20 Kadence Central – Site Management, Backups, Security, and Reporting 30K+ · 4.2★ (5) thin reviews
wp.org #6 ↓1 14 too high 21 
Secure MCP Server for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and other AI Agents 8K+ · 5.0★ (10) thin reviews
wp.org #15 6 too high 22 
SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #16 ↑4 6 too high 23 
Kadence for WooCommerce and Elementor 3K+ · 3.7★ (6) thin reviews
wp.org #11 ↓1 12 too high 24 V Virtue/Ascend/Pinnacle Toolkit 30K+ · 3.5★ (10) thin reviews
wp.org #23 1 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.