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← Rankings

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

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 “old”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

Good old Share shows at wp.org #7 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 60+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager places #11 on merit, 5.0★ from 1525 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Redirection 2M+ · 4.4★ (703) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #5 ↑1 3 too low 3 Revive Social – Social Media Auto Post and Scheduling Automation Plugin 20K+ · 4.0★ (556) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Republish Old Posts 2K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Classic Editor 8M+ · 4.9★ (1251) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #9 ↑2 3 too low 7 Slugs Manager: Delete Old Permalinks from WordPress Database 3K+ · 4.2★ (13) wp.org #2 5 too high 8 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #8 ↑1 9 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #10 ↓2 1 too low 10 301 Redirects – Redirect Manager 300K+ · 4.7★ (578) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too low 11 Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1525) wp.org #23 12 too low 12 LightStart – Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder 400K+ · 4.3★ (874) wp.org #18 ↑6 6 too low 13 404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring 100K+ · 4.7★ (321) wp.org #19 6 too low 14 Duplicate Page 3M+ · 4.8★ (466) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too low 15 Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1488) wp.org #22 ↑1 7 too low 16 bbPress 100K+ · 3.9★ (343) wp.org #20 ↑1 4 too low 17 ReCaptcha v2 for Contact Form 7 200K+ · 5.0★ (89) wp.org #24 ↓6 7 too low 18 Good old Share 60+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #7 11 too high 19 ArchiveMaster – Auto Archive and Export Old Orders for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #14 5 too high 20 Auto Post Cleaner 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 ↓1 9 too high 21 Add Old School Elements Icons Module for WPBakery Page Builder 80+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 ↑1 9 too high 22 Old Post Notice 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 5 too high 23 Restore Old Admin Colors 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↑1 8 too high 24 O Old Post Warning 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓1 3 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.