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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “md5”

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 “md5”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 3 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

Email Checker for Contact Form 7 shows at wp.org #11 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 90+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Loginizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1033) wp.org #1 2 WP Limit Login Attempts 10K+ · 4.6★ (300) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Mailgun for WordPress 80K+ · 3.8★ (49) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 RSFirewall! 4K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 DoLogin Security 7K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Remoji – Post/Comment Reaction and Enhancement 300+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Visibility – Lightweight SEO, AEO and GEO for Search and AI 600+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too low 8 Store file uploads for Contact Form 7 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 Media Library Tools – AI-Powered Rename, Clean & CSV Import/Export 2K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too low 10 WP Document Revisions 2K+ · 3.7★ (23) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 Page As Subdomain Lite 500+ · 3.2★ (11) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 WP-Force Images Download 90+ · 4.9★ (8) wp.org #24 12 too low 13 Campi Moduli Italiani 400+ · 4.7★ (6) wp.org #10 ↑13 3 too high 14 Filikod – Alt Text Checker & Bulk Image Alt Text Editor 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #20 ↓3 6 too low 15 Lock My Site 60+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #18 3 too low 16 Z-Downloads 70+ · 4.6★ (7) wp.org #21 ↓1 5 too low 17 Mediaspy – Detect & Clean Unused Media 70+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 PHP Vitals 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 6 too high 19 Email Checker for Contact Form 7 90+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #11 8 too high 20 Mirror Gravatar 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↓1 5 too high 21 Media Purge – Unused Media Cleaner & Duplicate Finder 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↑4 4 too high 22 Gogasys Media Cleaner: Clean Unused Media, Duplicate Files & Database 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 Pantheon Advanced Page Cache 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 PressGo AI — Landing Page & Website Builder for Elementor 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 1 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.