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

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 from”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Mail Queue shows at wp.org #7 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Import and export users and customers places #7 on merit, 4.7★ from 259 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. 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 ↑1 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 ↓1 4 Mail logging & Catcher 20K+ · 4.9★ (108) wp.org #4 5 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #5 ↑6 6 Mail Mint – Email Marketing, Automation & WooCommerce Emails with AI Assistance 4K+ · 4.7★ (125) wp.org #8 ↑4 2 too low 7 Import and export users and customers 70K+ · 4.7★ (259) wp.org #11 ↓2 4 too low 8 WP Mail Log 10K+ · 4.9★ (66) wp.org #9 ↓2 1 too low 9 Email Template Designer – WP HTML Mail 20K+ · 4.8★ (87) wp.org #10 ↓4 1 too low 10 Zoho Mail for WordPress 20K+ · 3.7★ (42) wp.org #6 ↓1 4 too high 11 Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging 90K+ · 4.8★ (292) wp.org #12 ↓2 1 too low 12 Manage Notification E-mails 100K+ · 4.8★ (56) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #24 ↓4 11 too low 14 Preview E-mails for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.9★ (85) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 WP SMTP Mailer – SMTP7 8K+ · 5.0★ (115) wp.org #20 ↑2 5 too low 16 Mail Queue 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #7 ↑1 9 too high 17 YaySMTP – WP Mail SMTP with Email Logs, Tracking & Reports 10K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #22 ↑2 5 too low 18 Solid Mail – SMTP email and logging made by SolidWP 60K+ · 4.2★ (52) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 Ultimate WP Mail 700+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #14 ↑4 5 too high 20 Change Sender Email – From Name and From Address 500+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #15 ↑1 5 too high 21 Royal Mail Shipping Calculator for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.4★ (8) wp.org #18 ↑3 3 too high 22 F4 Shipping Phone and E-Mail for WooCommerce 700+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #21 ↑2 1 too high 23 Shipping Live Rates for Royal Mail for WooCommerce 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 ↓1 7 too high 24 Media from ZIP 600+ · 5.0★ (2) 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.