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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “math”

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 “math”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

RMGCaptcha Math Guard – Math CAPTCHA for Login and WooCommerce shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 70+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO places #5 on merit, 4.8★ from 1267 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #1 2 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #6 4 too low 3 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 D DS CF7 Math Captcha 10K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #17 ↑7 12 too low 6 Redirection 2M+ · 4.4★ (703) wp.org #12 ↑7 6 too low 7 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #7 ↑2 8 FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) wp.org #18 ↓5 10 too low 9 Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270) wp.org #19 10 too low 10 Blocksy Companion 300K+ · 4.7★ (93) wp.org #22 ↓4 12 too low 11 Captcha by BestWebSoft – Advanced Spam Protection, Math & OCR-Friendly Captcha for Site Forms 10K+ · 4.1★ (21) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 WP All Import – Import SEO Settings for Rank Math SEO 6K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #3 9 too high 13 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #21 8 too low 14 Website LLMs.txt 50K+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too high 15 Instant Indexing for Google 200K+ · 3.6★ (36) wp.org #14 ↑2 1 too high 16 Enable Abilities for MCP 5K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 Unbloater 5K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #24 ↓1 7 too low 18 Convert Rank Math FAQ to Accordion 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #5 13 too high 19 Math Captcha for Contact Form 7 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #9 ↓2 10 too high 20 Visibility – Lightweight SEO, AEO and GEO for Search and AI 600+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #20 21 Do Shortcodes for Rank Math SEO 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 ↑2 6 too high 22 RMGCaptcha Math Guard – Math CAPTCHA for Login and WooCommerce 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 14 too high 23 HSArticle Login Math Verification 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 12 too high 24 Kabook Auto Schema & Accordion for Rank Math 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↑4 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.