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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “maintenance report”

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 “maintenance report”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

MainWP Child Reports shows at wp.org #9 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 100K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Maintenance 1M+ · 4.4★ (869) wp.org #1 2 LightStart – Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder 400K+ · 4.3★ (874) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin by NiteoThemes 200K+ · 4.7★ (326) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 Slim Maintenance Mode 10K+ · 5.0★ (63) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #8 ↑3 2 too low 7 Under Construction, Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode 10K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too high 8 Minimal Coming Soon – Coming Soon Page 100K+ · 4.3★ (282) wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too low 9 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #17 ↑6 8 too low 10 Modular DS: Monitor, update, and backup multiple websites 40K+ · 5.0★ (133) wp.org #14 4 too low 11 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #15 ↑1 4 too low 12 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #23 ↓1 11 too low 13 SlimStat Analytics – Real-Time Stats, Heatmaps & Ecommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (816) wp.org #22 9 too low 14 WP Umbrella: Security Backup Restore & Monitoring 90K+ · 4.8★ (81) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 WP Client Reports 6K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #7 8 too high 16 Maintenance mode for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #10 ↓1 6 too high 17 YITH Maintenance Mode 5K+ · 4.1★ (27) wp.org #19 2 too low 18 MainWP Child Reports 100K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #9 ↓1 9 too high 19 Kadence Central – Site Management, Backups, Security, and Reporting 30K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #13 6 too high 20 Super Easy Maintenance Mode – Coming Soon & Under Construction 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 21 Glow: maintenance & support management for agencies 800+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 9 too high 22 Digi Report 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 WP Supra – Maintenance & Support Utilities 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 Manage – Centralized site maintenance and monitoring 100K+ · 2.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↑1 8 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.