wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “limited”
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 “limited”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20.
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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.
Ranked above its merit
Limited Admin Menu Access by URLs shows at wp.org #14 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519)
wp.org #1 2 
TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too low 3 
Restricted Site Access 10K+ · 4.8★ (62)
wp.org #3 ↓1 4 
Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1338)
wp.org #6 ↓2 2 too low 5 
WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) low rating, top placement
wp.org #2 ↑13 3 too high 6 
Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551)
wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too high 7 
Admin Columns 100K+ · 4.9★ (1652)
wp.org #9 2 too low 8 
Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406)
wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too high 9 
All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676)
wp.org #10 ↑6 1 too low 10 
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 #11 ↓6 1 too low 11 
Filter Everything — WordPress & WooCommerce Filters 50K+ · 4.6★ (154)
wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too high 12 
MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435)
wp.org #13 ↓2 1 too low 13 
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #19 ↓9 6 too low 14 
Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418)
wp.org #18 4 too low 15 
LoginWP (Formerly Peter's Login Redirect) 80K+ · 4.8★ (503)
wp.org #21 ↓2 6 too low 16 
My Calendar – Accessible Event Manager 20K+ · 4.7★ (159)
wp.org #16 ↓2 17 
Controlled Admin Access 10K+ · 4.8★ (45)
wp.org #12 ↑1 5 too high 18 
Redux Framework 900K+ · 4.4★ (273)
wp.org #15 ↓3 3 too high 19 
Admin Menu Editor 300K+ · 4.6★ (312)
wp.org #22 3 too low 20 
GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155)
wp.org #20 21 
301 Redirects & 404 Error Log 30K+ · 4.6★ (28)
wp.org #23 ↓2 2 too low 22 
Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #24 2 too low 23 
Agent Abilities for MCP – Connect Claude and ChatGPT with Permission Controls and Audit Log 800+ · 4.8★ (5) thin reviews
wp.org #17 6 too high 24 Limited Admin Menu Access by URLs 10+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews
wp.org #14 ↑3 10 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.