wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “native”
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 “native”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 2 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
Рекламная платформа Native Rent shows at wp.org #9 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 300+ 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
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Native PHP Sessions 10K+ · 4.9★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #1 ↑1 2 
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) not PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #2 ↑2 3 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 
TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5 
Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519)
wp.org #10 ↓1 5 too low 6 
Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186)
wp.org #8 ↑2 2 too low 7 
Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962)
wp.org #11 ↑2 4 too low 8 
Super Web Share – Native Social Sharing Button 2K+ · 4.9★ (29)
wp.org #5 ↑3 3 too high 9 
Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882)
wp.org #13 ↓2 4 too low 10 
Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3004)
wp.org #15 ↑5 5 too low 11 
Visibility – Lightweight SEO, AEO and GEO for Search and AI 600+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews
wp.org #3 ↑3 8 too high 12 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387)
wp.org #21 9 too low 13 
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) heavy footprint
wp.org #12 ↑10 1 too high 14 
Loco Translate 1M+ · 4.8★ (453)
wp.org #14 ↑2 15 
Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #18 ↑6 3 too low 16 
Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution 100K+ · 4.4★ (590) heavy footprint
wp.org #20 ↓8 4 too low 17 
hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88)
wp.org #19 2 too low 18 
Post Types Order 600K+ · 4.5★ (296)
wp.org #22 ↑1 4 too low 19 
Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer 90K+ · 4.5★ (142)
wp.org #24 5 too low 20 
Redux Framework 900K+ · 4.4★ (273)
wp.org #23 ↓9 3 too low 21 
Google for WooCommerce 800K+ · 2.7★ (268) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #7 ↓6 14 too high 22 
MStore API – Create Native Android & iOS Apps On The Cloud 2K+ · 3.7★ (21) thin reviews
wp.org #17 ↑1 5 too high 23 N Native Gettext for WordPress 20+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #16 ↓1 7 too high 24 Рекламная платформа Native Rent 300+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #9 ↓2 15 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.