Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “minimize”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 5 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

Tamara Checkout shows at wp.org #8 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 3K+ 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

hCaptcha for WP places #11 on merit, 4.6★ from 88 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #1 2 Social Feed Gallery 80K+ · 4.5★ (303) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1526) wp.org #5 ↑10 2 too low 4 Orbit Fox: Duplicate Page, Menu Icons, SVG Support, Cookie Notice, Custom Fonts & More 100K+ · 4.8★ (317) wp.org #4 5 BlogVault Backup & Staging 80K+ · 4.6★ (332) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 WPC Smart Quick View for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #3 ↓1 3 too high 7 Redirection for Contact Form 7 200K+ · 4.7★ (275) wp.org #10 ↑6 3 too low 8 CartBounty – Save and recover abandoned carts for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too low 9 FastDup – Fastest WordPress Migration & Duplicator 5K+ · 4.6★ (27) wp.org #11 ↓2 2 too low 10 Product Slider, Product Grid, Product Masonry 9K+ · 4.3★ (86) wp.org #15 ↑2 5 too low 11 hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #19 ↓5 8 too low 12 Disable XML-RPC-API 100K+ · 4.2★ (43) wp.org #14 ↓2 2 too low 13 Better Post & Filter Widgets for Elementor 4K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #9 ↓2 4 too high 14 QuadLayers TikTok Feed 7K+ · 3.9★ (61) wp.org #16 ↑5 2 too low 15 JCH Optimize 4K+ · 4.4★ (69) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 Restrict User Access – Ultimate Membership & Content Protection 10K+ · 4.3★ (94) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 Ultimate Floating Widgets – Make popup sidebars 3K+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too low 18 FraudLabs Pro for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.2★ (18) wp.org #13 ↓3 5 too high 19 WP Ultimate Review 60K+ · 3.4★ (17) wp.org #18 ↓7 1 too high 20 Image Optimizer – Compress Images and Convert to WebP or AVIF 1M+ · 1.7★ (81) wp.org #7 ↓1 13 too high 21 Email Deliverability – SMTP Replacement, Email API Deliverability & Email Log 200K+ · 2.5★ (17) wp.org #17 ↑1 4 too high 22 WorkflowDone Geo Blocker 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Tamara Checkout 3K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 15 too high 24 Resize Image Before Upload 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓1 3 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.