wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “non breaking”

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 “non breaking”, we and wp.org disagree 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

French Typo shows at wp.org #6 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Page Builder by SiteOrigin places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 1005 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #2 1 too low 2

Orphans 50K+ · 5.0★ (164) wp.org #3 1 too low 3

JSM Non-Breaking Space (nbsp) for French Content 1K+ · 4.6★ (15) thin reviews wp.org #1 2 too high 4

Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #7 ↑3 3 too low 5

Remove Dashboard Access 30K+ · 4.6★ (78) wp.org #5 6

W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #8 ↑9 2 too low 7

Autoptimize 800K+ · 4.7★ (1428) wp.org #9 2 too low 8

Zalomení 6K+ · 5.0★ (15) thin reviews wp.org #4 4 too high 9

My Calendar – Accessible Event Manager 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #11 ↓3 2 too low 10

Page Builder by SiteOrigin 400K+ · 4.8★ (1005) wp.org #15 ↓1 5 too low 11

Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116) wp.org #10 ↑13 1 too high 12

NinjaFirewall (WP Edition) – Advanced Security Plugin and Firewall 100K+ · 4.9★ (220) wp.org #16 4 too low 13

Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #19 6 too low 14

Total Upkeep – WordPress Backup Plugin plus Restore & Migrate by BoldGrid 40K+ · 4.8★ (442) wp.org #20 ↑1 6 too low 15

WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #24 9 too low 16

BlockSpare – Gutenberg Blocks, AI Content Generator & Site Builder for news, magazine, blog and business sites 10K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #18 2 too low 17

SAR Friendly SMTP 2K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #23 ↑1 6 too low 18

Disable WP Notification 10K+ · 4.3★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too high 19

French Typo 200+ · 4.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #6 ↑1 13 too high 20

WPGraphQL Smart Cache 5K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↓1 6 too high 21

Block Editor Bootstrap Blocks 900+ · 4.5★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #21 ↑1 22

Search & Replace Text in Blocks 100+ · 4.3★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #22 23

Code and Core Remove Empty P Tags 50+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #12 ↓1 11 too high 24

Speedx Smart Line Breaks 50+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #17 ↓2 7 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.