Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 logs”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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

Shipping Live Rates for Royal Mail for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #17 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

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 WP Mail Log 10K+ · 4.9★ (66) wp.org #4 5 Mail logging & Catcher 20K+ · 4.9★ (108) wp.org #5 ↑2 6 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #9 ↑2 2 too low 8 Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging 90K+ · 4.8★ (292) wp.org #6 ↑2 2 too high 9 Mail Mint – Email Marketing, Automation & WooCommerce Emails with AI Assistance 4K+ · 4.7★ (125) wp.org #10 ↑2 1 too low 10 Easy WP SMTP – WordPress SMTP and Email Logs: Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Outlook, Custom SMTP, and more 500K+ · 4.6★ (709) wp.org #13 ↑2 3 too low 11 Email Template Designer – WP HTML Mail 20K+ · 4.8★ (87) wp.org #11 ↓2 12 YaySMTP – WP Mail SMTP with Email Logs, Tracking & Reports 10K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #12 ↑1 13 Mail Queue 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #8 ↑2 5 too high 14 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 Solid Mail – SMTP email and logging made by SolidWP 60K+ · 4.2★ (52) wp.org #19 ↑1 4 too low 16 SureMail – SMTP and Email Logs Plugin with Amazon SES, Postmark, and Other Providers 200K+ · 4.7★ (25) wp.org #18 ↑3 2 too low 17 Log Emails 6K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #16 ↑3 1 too high 18 Ultimate WP Mail 700+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #15 ↑3 3 too high 19 WP Email Log – PostBox 600+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 5 too high 20 Zoho ZeptoMail 5K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #20 ↑2 21 Pro Mail SMTP 300+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #21 ↑2 22 Magic Login Mail or QR Code 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 ↑2 23 Shipping Live Rates for Royal Mail for WooCommerce 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 atec SMTP Mail 60+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24

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.