Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “orange”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 of the top 20. 4 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

Orange Comfort+ accessibility toolbar for WordPress shows at wp.org #13 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 20+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 701 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Lucky Orange 2K+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 Disable All WordPress Updates 20K+ · 4.8★ (69) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 WP SMTP Mailer – SMTP7 8K+ · 5.0★ (115) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups 20K+ · 4.9★ (701) wp.org #11 ↑3 4 too low 8 Flexible Editor Panel for Elementor 20K+ · 4.9★ (74) wp.org #8 9 WP-Memory-Usage 10K+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #6 ↓1 3 too high 10 Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #10 11 Progress Bar 1K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 WSMS (formerly WP SMS): SMS and OTP for WordPress and WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.1★ (107) wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too low 13 Custom Field Template 30K+ · 4.0★ (24) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too high 14 Currency Converter Widget 2K+ · 4.9★ (88) wp.org #20 ↓1 6 too low 15 Version Info – Server Health Monitor, PHP & MySQL Version Display, Environment Indicators 10K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #17 2 too low 16 Easy Media Download 8K+ · 4.0★ (28) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 CMS ADMINS Security Check Report 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too low 18 LMSCrafter Gradient Text for Elementor 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 MeSomb for WooCommerce 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 ↓2 5 too low 20 Orange Comfort+ accessibility toolbar for WordPress 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↓1 7 too high 21 MyFatoorah – WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #16 5 too high 22 Orange Cat QR Event Tickets 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 Debug Status display 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↑1 24 Coupon URLs – Apply a Coupon from a Custom Link – for WooCommerce 100+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #22 2 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.