wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “news plugin”
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 “news plugin”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 3 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
WP Top News — Build a Complete News Portal in WordPress shows at wp.org #14 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 800+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 2470 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.
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706)
wp.org #1 ↑1 2 
Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #2 ↑1 3 
Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (504)
wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too low 4 
Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #4 ↑1 5 
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #8 ↑3 3 too low 6 
Download Plugin 60K+ · 4.5★ (27)
wp.org #3 ↑1 3 too high 7 
BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) not PHP-current
wp.org #6 ↑3 1 too high 8 
Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397)
wp.org #10 ↑8 2 too low 9 
All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) not PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #9 ↓2 10 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470)
wp.org #20 ↑3 10 too low 11 
WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228)
wp.org #19 8 too low 12 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #17 ↑5 5 too low 13 
GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #13 ↑1 14 
Ditty – Responsive News Tickers, Sliders, and Lists 30K+ · 4.6★ (106) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #11 ↑1 3 too high 15 
Vertical News Scroller 5K+ · 4.3★ (17) thin reviews
wp.org #7 ↑1 8 too high 16 
XML Sitemap & Google News 100K+ · 4.4★ (85)
wp.org #18 2 too low 17 
Plugin Organizer 10K+ · 4.7★ (227) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #16 1 too high 18 N News Ticker for Elementor 2K+ · 4.8★ (40)
wp.org #15 3 too high 19 
Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641)
wp.org #23 ↓3 4 too low 20 
T4B News Ticker – Responsive News Scroller, Slider, and Animations 7K+ · 4.5★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #12 ↑1 8 too high 21 
Payment Plugins for PayPal WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (127) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #21 22 
Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157)
wp.org #24 2 too low 23 
Plugin Check (PCP) 10K+ · 4.5★ (36)
wp.org #22 ↓3 1 too high 24 WP Top News — Build a Complete News Portal in WordPress 800+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #14 10 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.