wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “mail next”
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 next”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20.
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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.
Ranked above its merit
Royal Mail Shipping Calculator for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #6 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.4★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin places #5 on merit, 4.9★ from 4229 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5210)
wp.org #1 2 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #2 3 
Mail Mint – Email Marketing, Automation & WooCommerce Emails with AI Assistance 4K+ · 4.7★ (125)
wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 
Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053)
wp.org #8 ↑1 4 too low 5 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4229)
wp.org #12 ↑4 7 too low 6 
YaySMTP – WP Mail SMTP with Email Logs, Tracking & Reports 10K+ · 4.9★ (45)
wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too low 7 
Mail Queue 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #3 4 too high 8 
Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358)
wp.org #14 ↓3 6 too low 9 
GSheetConnector – CF7 Google Sheets Connector & Save CF7 Entries to Database 40K+ · 4.4★ (129)
wp.org #9 ↑5 10 
Next Active Directory Integration 2K+ · 4.8★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #5 ↓1 5 too high 11 
AddToAny Share Buttons 300K+ · 4.7★ (1114)
wp.org #17 ↑1 6 too low 12 
Import and export users and customers 70K+ · 4.7★ (259)
wp.org #15 ↑4 3 too low 13 
GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155)
wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too high 14 
Webheadcoder Multi-Step Forms for Contact Form 7 50K+ · 4.2★ (49)
wp.org #10 4 too high 15 
WP Crontrol 300K+ · 4.4★ (167)
wp.org #16 ↑1 1 too low 16 
Jetpack CRM – Clients, Leads, Invoices, Billing, Email Marketing, & Automation 30K+ · 4.3★ (152)
wp.org #20 ↑2 4 too low 17 Royal Mail Shipping Calculator for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.4★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #6 11 too high 18 
Shipping Live Rates and Access Points for UPS for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.7★ (77)
wp.org #18 ↑2 19 
Back In Stock Notifier for WooCommerce | WooCommerce Waitlist Pro 20K+ · 4.7★ (122)
wp.org #23 4 too low 20 
Email Templates Customizer and Designer for WordPress and WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.6★ (133)
wp.org #24 4 too low 21 
Comment Reply Email Notification 3K+ · 4.8★ (33)
wp.org #21 22 
File Upload Types by WPForms 40K+ · 4.0★ (20) thin reviews
wp.org #22 23 
SendForce Mail SMTP Relay – SMTP and Email API 10+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #13 10 too high 24 
Emerge Mail – SMTP, Newsletters & Email Marketing 10+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #19 ↓4 5 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.