Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “network”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 7 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

Organizers Embed – Action Network for WordPress shows at wp.org #3 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 1645 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #1 2 BuddyPress 90K+ · 4.1★ (375) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #7 ↓2 3 too low 5 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #5 ↑3 6 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 4 too low 7 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8 FluentCommunity – Ultra-Fast High-Performance Social Network, Community, LMS & Online Courses 8K+ · 4.8★ (96) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too high 9 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #16 ↓4 7 too low 10 Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1645) wp.org #18 ↓4 8 too low 11 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #15 4 too low 12 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #17 ↑3 5 too low 13 NextScripts: Social Networks Auto-Poster 20K+ · 3.3★ (617) wp.org #8 ↑1 5 too high 14 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #14 1 too high 16 Youzify – BuddyPress Community, User Profile, Social Network & Membership Plugin for WordPress 5K+ · 4.8★ (194) wp.org #22 ↓6 6 too low 17 Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276) wp.org #19 ↑2 2 too low 18 User Role Editor 700K+ · 4.5★ (288) wp.org #23 ↓1 5 too low 19 affiliate-toolkit – Multi-Network Affiliate & Amazon Product Display 2K+ · 4.5★ (22) wp.org #9 ↑7 10 too high 20 WP Multi Network 100+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #13 7 too high 21 Organizers Embed – Action Network for WordPress 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 ↑3 18 too high 22 Google for WooCommerce 800K+ · 2.7★ (268) wp.org #11 ↓9 11 too high 23 ZenCommunity – Community, Forum, Social Network, Chat & Support Tickets 20+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Portugal DPD Pickup and Lockers network for WooCommerce 200+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #24 ↓1

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.