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

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 “landing”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 3 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

Unbounce Landing Pages shows at wp.org #7 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.2★ average from 11 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #4 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 reviews, but shows at wp.org #8. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #1 2

Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #2 3

LightStart – Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder 400K+ · 4.3★ (874) wp.org #3 4

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #8 4 too low 5

Landing Page Builder – Coming Soon page, Maintenance Mode, Lead Page, WordPress Landing Pages 8K+ · 4.6★ (202) wp.org #5 6

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #10 4 too low 7

Kit (formerly ConvertKit) – Email Newsletter, Email Marketing, Membership, Subscribers and Landing Pages 40K+ · 4.8★ (90) wp.org #6 1 too high 8

Landingi Landing Pages 2K+ · 5.0★ (20) thin reviews wp.org #4 4 too high 9

Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #11 2 too low 10

Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 1M+ · 4.9★ (4755) wp.org #14 ↑1 4 too low 11

Maintenance 1M+ · 4.4★ (869) wp.org #12 ↑2 1 too low 12

CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin by NiteoThemes 200K+ · 4.7★ (326) wp.org #15 3 too low 13

Beaver Builder Page Builder – Drag and Drop Website Builder 100K+ · 4.7★ (394) wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too low 14

Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167) wp.org #20 6 too low 15

GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too low 16

MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #19 3 too low 17

Landing Page Cat – Coming Soon & Maintenance Pages 600+ · 4.2★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #9 8 too high 18

MPG – Multiple Page Generator, Bulk Landing Pages & Programmatic SEO 2K+ · 3.9★ (27) wp.org #18 ↓5 19

Builderius – Landing Page Builder + Dynamic Templates 200+ · 5.0★ (16) thin reviews wp.org #23 ↓3 4 too low 20

Unbounce Landing Pages 10K+ · 3.2★ (11) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #7 13 too high 21

Ultimate Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode & Under Construction – Gutenberg Block Builder & Landing Page 9K+ · 4.5★ (6) not PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #13 ↓1 8 too high 22

AWeber – Free Sign Up Form and Landing Page Builder Plugin for Lead Generation and Email Newsletter Growth 8K+ · 2.6★ (25) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #24 ↓6 2 too low 23

SEO Landing Page Generator 50+ · 4.0★ (4) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #21 2 too high 24 H Hide Header on Posts for Landing Pages 200+ · 2.7★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #22 ↓3 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.