wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “most read”

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 “most read”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 of the top 20. 4 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

Read More Button – Expand Content Without Refresh shows at wp.org #16 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 100+ 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.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #3 ↑1 2 too low 2

LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #5 ↓2 3 too low 3

Most And Least Read Posts Widget 900+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #1 2 too high 4

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #4 ↑2 5

Read Meter – Reading Time & Progress Bar 10K+ · 4.5★ (19) thin reviews wp.org #2 3 too high 6

Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #7 1 too low 7

FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too high 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 #10 ↓3 2 too low 9

Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #8 1 too high 10

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #11 1 too low 11

Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #9 2 too high 12

Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.7★ (1071) wp.org #13 ↑1 1 too low 13

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #15 2 too low 14

Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS 200K+ · 4.7★ (612) wp.org #17 3 too low 15

All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #18 ↓2 3 too low 16

PDF Poster – Let visitors read PDF’s without leaving the page 20K+ · 4.5★ (149) not PHP-current wp.org #14 ↓4 2 too high 17

The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #23 ↓2 6 too low 18

Filter Everything — WordPress & WooCommerce Filters 50K+ · 4.6★ (154) wp.org #19 ↓4 1 too low 19

Document Embedder – let visitors read files without downloading 9K+ · 4.9★ (120) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #12 ↑6 7 too high 20

Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167) wp.org #21 1 too low 21

Product Feed Manager for WooCommerce – CTX Feed – Support 220+ Shopping, AI & Social Channels 90K+ · 4.6★ (838) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #22 ↓2 1 too low 22

MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #20 ↓8 2 too high 23

Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓5 1 too low 24

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.