wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “new”
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 “new”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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
Vertical News Scroller shows at wp.org #9 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 17 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress places #10 on merit, 4.6★ from 1205 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
New User Approve 20K+ · 4.3★ (131)
wp.org #1 ↑2 2 
External Links in New Window / New Tab 30K+ · 4.5★ (77)
wp.org #2 ↓1 3 
External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window 80K+ · 4.3★ (247)
wp.org #3 ↓1 4 
MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435)
wp.org #6 ↓2 2 too low 5 
XML Sitemap & Google News 100K+ · 4.4★ (85)
wp.org #4 ↑3 1 too high 6 
WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833)
wp.org #7 ↓2 1 too low 7 
Noptin – Newsletter, New Post Notifications & Email Automation 10K+ · 4.5★ (120)
wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too high 8 
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821)
wp.org #15 ↑7 7 too low 9 
External Product New Tab for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.8★ (35)
wp.org #8 1 too high 10 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205)
wp.org #20 10 too low 11 
RSS Aggregator by Feedzy – Feed to Post, Autoblogging, News & YouTube Video Feeds Aggregator 40K+ · 4.6★ (361)
wp.org #18 ↑3 7 too low 12 
The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461)
wp.org #19 ↓4 7 too low 13 
Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520)
wp.org #24 11 too low 14 
FluentCart A New Era of eCommerce – Faster, Lighter, and Simpler 9K+ · 4.5★ (46)
wp.org #10 ↑6 4 too high 15 
Ditty – Responsive News Tickers, Sliders, and Lists 30K+ · 4.6★ (106)
wp.org #16 ↓2 1 too low 16 
GN Publisher: Google News Compatible RSS Feeds 20K+ · 4.9★ (29)
wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too high 17 
Contact Form 7 10M+ · 4.0★ (2186)
wp.org #21 4 too low 18 
Accessibility New Window Warnings 1K+ · 4.8★ (17) thin reviews
wp.org #11 ↓1 7 too high 19 Vertical News Scroller 5K+ · 4.3★ (17) thin reviews
wp.org #9 10 too high 20 
T4B News Ticker – Responsive News Scroller, Slider, and Animations 7K+ · 4.5★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #12 ↓1 8 too high 21 
New Order Notification for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.4★ (14) thin reviews
wp.org #14 ↓1 7 too high 22 
WP Top News — Build a Complete News Portal in WordPress 800+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #17 5 too high 23 
Publish To Apple News 4K+ · 3.8★ (25)
wp.org #22 ↓5 1 too high 24 
Custom New User Email Template 200+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #23 ↓3 1 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.