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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “oauth2”

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 “oauth2”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 of the top 20. 5 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

SMTP for Contact Form 7 shows at wp.org #9 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

OAuth Single Sign On – SSO (OAuth Client) places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 327 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Tim's Nextcloud SSO OAuth2 200+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #1 2 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too low 3 Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging 90K+ · 4.8★ (292) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 WP OAuth Server (OAuth Authentication) 3K+ · 3.8★ (41) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 Login for Google Apps by WPAuth 10K+ · 4.6★ (64) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Authorizer 6K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 WP OAuth Server ( Login with WordPress ) 1K+ · 4.9★ (41) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 OAuth Single Sign On – SSO (OAuth Client) 6K+ · 4.9★ (327) wp.org #14 ↓2 6 too low 9 O OpenID Connect Generic Client 10K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 Gmail SMTP 10K+ · 4.1★ (103) wp.org #11 1 too low 11 ThinkRank SEO – AI SEO Plugin for SEO & Google Search Console 20K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #10 ↑3 1 too high 12 Private Google Calendars 1K+ · 4.8★ (23) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too low 13 Connect Elementor Forms to Google Sheets Addon 700+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #13 ↑3 14 OGEEAT 200+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #12 ↓3 2 too high 15 Nexter Extension – Security, Performance, Code Snippets & Site Toolkit 10K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #23 ↓3 8 too low 16 Sync Master Sheet – Product Sync with Google Sheet for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #18 ↓1 2 too low 17 Cowboy MCP – Free MCP Server with Undo for Claude & ChatGPT 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 Pro Mail SMTP 300+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #22 ↓1 4 too low 19 Indexedy | Track Google Indexing & Get Your Links Indexed Faster 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24 ↓1 5 too low 20 WP Global Site Tag 7K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↑1 3 too high 21 DocCheck Access 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↑2 1 too high 22 SMTP for Contact Form 7 1K+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #9 ↑1 13 too high 23 Rankology SEO and Analytics Tool 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 Mautic Integration For Fluent Forms 200+ · 2.3★ (3) wp.org #16 ↓1 8 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.