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

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 posts”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Read Meter – Reading Time & Progress Bar shows at wp.org #3 but places #8 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 19 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★ (27820) wp.org #4 2 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 #5 6

List category posts 70K+ · 4.7★ (254) wp.org #7 1 too low 7

Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #8 1 too low 8

Read Meter – Reading Time & Progress Bar 10K+ · 4.5★ (19) thin reviews wp.org #3 5 too high 9

User Submitted Posts – Enable Users to Submit Posts from the Front End 10K+ · 4.8★ (913) wp.org #12 3 too low 10

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #13 3 too low 11

SchedulePress – Auto Post & Publish, Auto Social Share, Schedule Posts with Editorial Calendar & Missed Schedule Post Publisher 10K+ · 4.6★ (201) wp.org #11 12

LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #14 2 too low 13

Category Posts Block 40K+ · 4.5★ (79) wp.org #10 4 too high 15

Post Views Counter 100K+ · 4.9★ (1238) wp.org #20 5 too low 16

Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #17 1 too low 17

Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #19 2 too low 18

Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #24 6 too low 19

WebberZone Top 10 — Popular Posts 10K+ · 4.6★ (102) wp.org #16 4 too high 21

Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #22 23

Flex Posts – Responsive Posts Block 2K+ · 5.0★ (24) thin reviews wp.org #18 5 too high 24

Magical Posts Display – Elementor Advanced Posts widgets 3K+ · 4.4★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #21 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.