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← Rankings

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

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 management”, we agree with wp.org 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

The School Management – Education & Learning ERP shows at wp.org #10 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 700+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 15 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too high 4 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8709) wp.org #4 ↑3 5 MainWP Dashboard: Self-hosted WordPress Management for Agencies 20K+ · 4.9★ (2354) wp.org #7 ↑9 2 too low 6 Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276) wp.org #6 7 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #9 ↑8 2 too low 8 Term Management Tools 10K+ · 4.9★ (76) wp.org #8 ↑1 9 WP Multi Network 100+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #5 ↑3 4 too high 10 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #11 ↓5 1 too low 11 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 WP Rollback – Rollback Plugins and Themes 200K+ · 4.9★ (215) wp.org #14 ↓2 2 too low 13 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #16 ↑7 3 too low 14 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) wp.org #23 ↓8 8 too low 16 User Role Editor 700K+ · 4.5★ (288) wp.org #19 ↑1 3 too low 17 FluentCommunity – Ultra-Fast High-Performance Social Network, Community, LMS & Online Courses 8K+ · 4.8★ (96) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too low 18 Wired Impact Volunteer Management 1K+ · 4.8★ (24) wp.org #12 ↓1 6 too high 19 Donation Platform for WooCommerce: Fundraising & Donation Management 7K+ · 4.9★ (99) wp.org #24 ↓10 5 too low 20 The School Management – Education & Learning ERP 700+ · 4.5★ (15) wp.org #10 10 too high 21 affiliate-toolkit – Multi-Network Affiliate & Amazon Product Display 2K+ · 4.5★ (22) wp.org #18 3 too high 22 Affiliate Links – Link Cloaking and Management 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #21 ↑1 1 too high 23 LazyTasks – Project & Task Management with Collaboration, Kanban and Gantt Chart 90+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 Glow: maintenance & support management for agencies 800+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 9 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.