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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “mail address”

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 “mail address”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Cryptex | E-Mail Address Protection shows at wp.org #10 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 800+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 528 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 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 #1 2 WP Mail Logging 300K+ · 4.7★ (375) wp.org #2 3 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #3 4 Mail logging & Catcher 20K+ · 4.9★ (108) wp.org #4 5 Mail Mint – Email Marketing, Automation & WooCommerce Emails with AI Assistance 4K+ · 4.7★ (125) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too low 6 Manage Notification E-mails 100K+ · 4.8★ (56) wp.org #6 7 Email Template Designer – WP HTML Mail 20K+ · 4.8★ (87) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too low 8 Zoho Mail for WordPress 20K+ · 3.7★ (42) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging 90K+ · 4.8★ (292) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 WP SMTP Mailer – SMTP7 8K+ · 5.0★ (115) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #21 10 too low 12 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #24 12 too low 13 Autocomplete Address for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.8★ (24) wp.org #9 4 too high 14 Solid Mail – SMTP email and logging made by SolidWP 60K+ · 4.2★ (52) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 Ultimate WP Mail 700+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 F4 Shipping Phone and E-Mail for WooCommerce 700+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 Cryptex | E-Mail Address Protection 800+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #10 8 too high 19 UK Address Postcode Validation 700+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #12 7 too high 20 Zoho ZeptoMail 5K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #17 3 too high 21 Comment Moderation/Notification Recipients 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 Pro Mail SMTP 300+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 Shipping Live Rates for Royal Mail for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 8 too high 24 Magic Login Mail or QR Code 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 1 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.