wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “not required”
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 “not required”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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
Speedx – Disable Login Verification Required Emails for Wordfence shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 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 #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 2470 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1012)
wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too low 2 
MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435)
wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 
WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833)
wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too low 4 
Redirection 2M+ · 4.4★ (703)
wp.org #4 ↓1 5 W WP Required Taxonomies – Categories and Tags Mandatory 1K+ · 4.1★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #1 4 too high 6 
Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #6 ↑4 7 
Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940)
wp.org #9 2 too low 8 
Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520)
wp.org #13 5 too low 9 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470)
wp.org #17 ↑2 8 too low 10 
Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667)
wp.org #14 4 too low 11 
WP Data Access – App Builder for Tables, Forms, Dashboards, Charts & Maps 10K+ · 4.9★ (88)
wp.org #11 ↑5 12 
Fonts Plugin | Google Fonts, Adobe Fonts & Upload Fonts 200K+ · 5.0★ (1221)
wp.org #18 ↑4 6 too low 13 
Widget Disable 10K+ · 4.8★ (24) thin reviews
wp.org #7 ↓2 6 too high 14 
Header Footer Code Manager 600K+ · 4.9★ (309)
wp.org #15 1 too low 15 
Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184)
wp.org #16 ↑2 1 too low 16 
OMGF | GDPR/DSGVO Compliant, Faster Google Fonts. Easy. 300K+ · 4.7★ (213)
wp.org #19 ↑2 3 too low 17 
Featured Image from URL (FIFU) 60K+ · 4.6★ (264)
wp.org #23 6 too low 18 
Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510)
wp.org #21 ↓10 3 too low 19 
FAZ Cookie Manager 3K+ · 5.0★ (30)
wp.org #22 ↓4 3 too low 20 
WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583)
wp.org #20 21 
Jetpack Without Promotions 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) thin reviews
wp.org #24 ↓1 3 too low 22 Speedx – Disable Login Verification Required Emails for Wordfence 200+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #8 14 too high 23 
Private Website – Login Required 300+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #10 ↑1 13 too high 24 
Feed Post Thumbnail 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #12 ↑2 12 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.