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

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 validation”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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 Login Mail or QR Code shows at wp.org #7 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer places #12 on merit, 4.5★ from 142 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. 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 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 Email Template Designer – WP HTML Mail 20K+ · 4.8★ (87) wp.org #5 ↓2 1 too low 5 Database Addon for Contact Form 7 – CFDB7 600K+ · 5.0★ (1875) wp.org #10 ↑2 5 too low 6 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #11 ↓3 5 too low 7 Mail Queue 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 too high 8 Flexible Checkout Fields for WooCommerce – WooCommerce Checkout Manager 80K+ · 4.7★ (296) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too low 9 Solid Mail – SMTP email and logging made by SolidWP 60K+ · 4.2★ (52) wp.org #9 ↑2 10 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #13 ↑2 3 too low 11 Drag and Drop Multiple File Upload for Contact Form 7 60K+ · 4.8★ (94) wp.org #15 ↑2 4 too low 12 Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer 90K+ · 4.5★ (142) wp.org #20 ↑3 8 too low 13 Advanced Shipment Tracking for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.5★ (355) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 GSheetConnector – CF7 Google Sheets Connector & Save CF7 Entries to Database 40K+ · 4.4★ (129) wp.org #17 ↑5 2 too low 16 UK Address Postcode Validation 700+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 10 too high 17 Campos Checkout Brasileiro para WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 Magic Login Mail or QR Code 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #7 ↑2 11 too high 19 Pro Mail SMTP 300+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #8 ↑2 11 too high 20 Double Opt-In for Contact Form 7 – Secure, GDPR-Compliant Email Verification 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 SMTP Mail Control for MailPoet 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 7 too high 22 SendForce Mail SMTP Relay – SMTP and Email API 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 ↓2 1 too high 23 Emerge Mail – SMTP, Newsletters & Email Marketing 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓3 24 B BSK Forms Validation 100+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↑2 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.