Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 content”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 6 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

Content Egg – Affiliate Product Importer & Price Comparison shows at wp.org #9 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.9★ average from 56 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 1281 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Republish Old Posts 2K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content 10K+ · 4.2★ (60) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Revive Social – Social Media Auto Post and Scheduling Automation Plugin 20K+ · 4.0★ (556) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #5 6 301 Redirects – Redirect Manager 300K+ · 4.7★ (578) wp.org #13 ↑3 7 too low 7 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #14 ↓2 7 too low 8 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #18 ↑3 10 too low 9 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708) wp.org #19 ↓1 10 too low 10 Nelio Content – Editorial Calendar & Social Media Auto-Posting 3K+ · 4.4★ (104) wp.org #10 ↑3 11 Timed Content 5K+ · 4.6★ (41) wp.org #8 3 too high 12 Slugs Manager: Delete Old Permalinks from WordPress Database 3K+ · 4.2★ (13) wp.org #4 8 too high 13 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #17 ↓2 3 too low 15 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 Cookies and Content Security Policy 10K+ · 4.9★ (67) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too high 17 Random Content 3K+ · 4.8★ (35) wp.org #15 ↓1 2 too high 18 Content Egg – Affiliate Product Importer & Price Comparison 10K+ · 3.9★ (56) wp.org #9 9 too high 19 If-So Dynamic Content – Elementor & All Page Builders Personalization 7K+ · 4.7★ (92) wp.org #21 ↓2 2 too low 20 Redirection 2M+ · 4.4★ (703) wp.org #24 ↓2 4 too low 21 Featured Image in Content 600+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #12 ↓1 9 too high 22 Interactive Content – H5P 40K+ · 4.8★ (61) wp.org #22 ↑2 23 Auto Post Cleaner 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 ↑1 7 too high 24 Toggle Content 700+ · 3.0★ (6) wp.org #23 1 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.