Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “machine readable”

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 “machine readable”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

Archiveo – Importer for the Wayback Machine shows at wp.org #3 but places #12 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 200+ 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

SQLite Object Cache places #7 on merit, 5.0★ from 51 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Better Robots.txt – AI-Ready Crawl Control & Bot Governance 5K+ · 4.5★ (102) wp.org #4 3 too low 2 GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO 30K+ · 4.6★ (683) wp.org #7 ↓2 5 too low 3 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Time Machine 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Smart COD for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.6★ (52) wp.org #11 ↑5 6 too low 6 My Private Site – Make Your Whole Site Private, Force Login & Block Registration Spam 10K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #14 8 too low 7 SQLite Object Cache 10K+ · 5.0★ (51) wp.org #20 ↓2 13 too low 8 Aplitap Sidrena Cijena i Cjenik 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too high 9 Content Egg – Affiliate Product Importer & Price Comparison 10K+ · 3.9★ (56) wp.org #16 ↓4 7 too low 10 VidSEO – Video transcript embedding for WordPress & LLM 100+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #8 2 too high 11 AEO God Mode – AI Search Visibility 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too low 12 Archiveo – Importer for the Wayback Machine 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 9 too high 13 AI Content Signals 800+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #10 3 too high 14 Add LinkedIn Insight Tag for LinkedIn Ads 4K+ · 3.3★ (4) wp.org #5 ↑1 9 too high 15 CryptX 10K+ · 4.5★ (20) wp.org #22 ↓3 7 too low 16 LovedByAI – GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) & AI SEO Plugin: AEO, llms.txt 1K+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 SEO’n’AI – AI Image check&mark 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 8 too high 18 Enfants IMG Performer 40+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #18 ↑3 19 Mira LLM Optimizer 30+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #23 ↓1 4 too low 20 LLMs.txt Curator 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #24 ↓1 4 too low 21 CMS ADMINS Security Check Report 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 2 too high 22 WP Google Street View (with 360° virtual tour) & Google maps + Local SEO 300+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too high 23 AI Discovery Files – llms.txt & AI Visibility 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 8 too high 24 KP Agent Ready 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 7 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.