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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “magic link”

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 “magic link”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 of the top 20. 4 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

Magic robots.txt shows at wp.org #4 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 1K+ 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

Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates places #6 on merit, 4.9★ from 1680 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Magic Login – Magic Link & Passwordless Authentication for WordPress – Login Without Password 3K+ · 4.8★ (26) wp.org #1 2 Alt Magic: AI Image Alt Text Generator for WP & Image Rename 2K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #6 ↓4 3 too low 4 Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #14 10 too low 5 Generate Images (AI) – Magic Post Thumbnail 5K+ · 4.3★ (25) wp.org #3 ↑1 2 too high 6 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #18 ↓1 12 too low 7 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (195) wp.org #15 ↑1 8 too low 8 Search & Replace Everything – Quick and Easy Way to Find and Replace Text, Links 20K+ · 4.7★ (26) wp.org #8 ↓1 9 Internal Link Juicer: SEO Auto Linker for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (537) wp.org #19 ↓1 10 too low 10 Login Me Now – Passwordless, Magic Link, OTP & Social Login for WordPress 600+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #5 ↑1 5 too high 11 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #17 6 too low 12 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #24 ↓3 12 too low 13 Magic Login Mail or QR Code 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #7 ↑2 6 too high 14 All In One Login 60K+ · 3.6★ (35) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 FluentAuth – Login Security, Two-Factor Authentication, Passkeys & Social Login 10K+ · 4.1★ (35) wp.org #23 ↑1 8 too low 16 Magic Export & Import 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #9 ↑1 7 too high 17 User Registration & Login – Magic Links & Email OTP Verification, Passkeys & 2FA, Cloudflare Turnstile, Google reCAPTCHA & Honeypot – HMDIA 50+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too low 18 Magic robots.txt 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 ↑1 14 too high 19 Social Login, Passkeys, Magic Link & Email OTP – Passwordless Login by VentraConnect 90+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #13 6 too high 20 Collapse Magic 1K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #10 ↓2 10 too high 21 FAQ Magic – AI powered FAQ generator 80+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too high 22 Magic Tooltips For Contact Form 7 600+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #12 ↓1 10 too high 23 Magic URL Coupon for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 ↑1 12 too high 24 Magic Link – Secure one click passwordless login 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓1 3 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.