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

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 “lights”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

Light Views Counter – Fast, Scalable View Counter for High-Traffic Sites shows at wp.org #5 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 3K+ 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

Easy Updates Manager places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 726 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Light Modal Block 2K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #6 ↓1 3 too low 4 UsersWP – Front-end login form, User Registration, User Profile & Members Directory plugin for WP 20K+ · 4.7★ (183) wp.org #7 ↑1 3 too low 5 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #10 ↑1 5 too low 6 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #13 ↑1 7 too low 7 Easy Updates Manager 300K+ · 4.8★ (726) wp.org #15 8 too low 8 Relevanssi Light 600+ · 4.6★ (7) wp.org #3 5 too high 9 Page Builder: Pagelayer – Drag and Drop website builder 400K+ · 3.9★ (104) wp.org #9 ↑1 10 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 Firelight Lightbox 200K+ · 4.8★ (361) wp.org #19 ↑1 8 too low 12 Affiliates WooCommerce Light 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #4 8 too high 13 Reviews and Rating – Google Reviews 20K+ · 4.9★ (184) wp.org #12 ↑1 1 too high 14 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #17 ↑1 3 too low 15 ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117) wp.org #20 ↑1 5 too low 16 Code Block Pro – Beautiful Syntax Highlighting 10K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Kirki – Freeform Page Builder, Website Builder & Customizer 400K+ · 4.5★ (81) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 Easy Hide Login 20K+ · 4.4★ (43) wp.org #21 ↑1 3 too low 19 Personio Integration Light 200+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #11 ↑1 8 too high 20 Advanced Popups 60K+ · 4.0★ (9) wp.org #18 ↑1 2 too high 21 HD Quiz – Save Results Light 1K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #8 ↑1 13 too high 22 Light Views Counter – Fast, Scalable View Counter for High-Traffic Sites 3K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 ↑2 17 too high 23 Rs Christmas Santa – Snowfall, Christmas Lights, Holiday Music, Flying Sleigh & Countdown 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 ↑3 9 too high 24 Light Particles 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 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.