Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “last article”

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 “last article”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 2 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

Help Metric Article Helpful Feedback shows at wp.org #9 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content places #9 on merit, 4.5★ from 565 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Last Modified Info 40K+ · 4.9★ (855) wp.org #1 2 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 #2 3 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #3 4 Classic Editor 8M+ · 4.9★ (1251) wp.org #4 5 The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) wp.org #5 6 404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring 100K+ · 4.7★ (321) wp.org #6 7 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #7 8 OG — Better Share on Social Media 20K+ · 4.8★ (216) wp.org #8 9 WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565) wp.org #13 4 too low 10 Social Preview and Open Graph Tags 50K+ · 4.6★ (122) wp.org #10 11 Cookie Compliance for WordPress – Cookie Consent, GDPR & CCPA 800K+ · 4.8★ (3026) wp.org #15 4 too low 12 Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 Quiz Maker by AYS 20K+ · 4.9★ (601) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #17 3 too low 15 FG Joomla to WordPress 7K+ · 4.7★ (336) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 Debug Log Manager – Conveniently Monitor and Inspect Errors 10K+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #16 17 WC Price History 5K+ · 5.0★ (27) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 Highlight Search Terms 6K+ · 5.0★ (40) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 EU Withdrawal and Legal Guarantee Compliance 1K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 Map Block for Google Maps 20K+ · 4.6★ (21) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 Content Egg – Affiliate Product Importer & Price Comparison 10K+ · 3.9★ (56) wp.org #18 3 too high 22 Was This Helpful? – Article Feedback 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 10 too high 23 Help Metric Article Helpful Feedback 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 14 too high 24 Ergonet Cache 3K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 5 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.