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

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 “month”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Hostinger Reach – AI-Powered Email Marketing for WordPress shows at wp.org #7 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 1M+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Temporary Login Without Password places #9 on merit, 5.0★ from 1549 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 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Dynamic Month & Year into Posts 8K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Imagify Image Optimization: Optimize Images | Compress & Convert to WebP/AVIF 900K+ · 4.3★ (1656) wp.org #3 4 Post Views Counter 100K+ · 4.9★ (1236) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1338) wp.org #9 ↓2 4 too low 6 My Calendar – Accessible Event Manager 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #8 ↓3 2 too low 7 WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 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 #13 ↓5 5 too low 9 Temporary Login Without Password 90K+ · 5.0★ (1549) wp.org #17 8 too low 10 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #14 ↑1 4 too low 11 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #5 ↑6 6 too high 12 WP Date and Time Shortcode 10K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #11 ↑3 1 too high 13 Nelio A/B Testing – AB Tests and Heatmaps for Better Conversion Optimization 4K+ · 4.8★ (99) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 Shortcode for Current Date 10K+ · 5.0★ (116) wp.org #20 ↓3 6 too low 15 M month name translation benaceur 200+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #4 11 too high 16 Simple Membership 40K+ · 4.6★ (475) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 Simple Calendar – Google Calendar Plugin 50K+ · 3.8★ (397) wp.org #21 ↑1 4 too low 18 EventPrime – Events Calendar, Bookings, Tickets & AI 7K+ · 4.4★ (85) wp.org #16 ↑3 2 too high 19 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #19 ↑1 20 Coupon Affiliates – Affiliate Plugin for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (77) wp.org #24 ↓12 4 too low 21 Hostinger Reach – AI-Powered Email Marketing for WordPress 1M+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #7 ↓1 14 too high 22 AADMY – Add Auto Date Month Year Into Posts 400+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #12 ↑1 10 too high 23 Booking Package 10K+ · 4.0★ (15) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 Current Year, Symbols and IP Shortcode 10K+ · 5.0★ (5) 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.