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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “outdated”

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For “outdated”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 4 plugins are pushed down for signals wp.org ignores: errors,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

k-OutDated Checker (k-OC) shows at wp.org #6 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 60+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection places #7 on merit, 4.6★ from 3992 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Outdated Plugin Notifier 400+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #1 2 Media File Renamer: Rename Images & Files for SEO (AI-Powered) 40K+ · 4.6★ (447) wp.org #4 ↑5 2 too low 3 Defender Security – Malware Scanner, Login Security & Firewall 80K+ · 4.8★ (334) wp.org #5 ↑5 2 too low 4 Core Rollback 20K+ · 4.7★ (16) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Database Cleaner: Cleanup, Optimization & Repair 10K+ · 5.0★ (150) wp.org #8 ↓3 3 too low 6 Internal Link Juicer: SEO Auto Linker for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (537) wp.org #16 ↑6 10 too low 7 Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #19 12 too low 8 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 API KEY for Google Maps 30K+ · 4.9★ (55) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 Social Preview and Open Graph Tags 50K+ · 4.6★ (122) wp.org #14 ↑4 4 too low 11 LocoAI – Auto Translate for Loco Translate 70K+ · 4.9★ (642) wp.org #22 11 too low 12 Outdated Template Updater for WooCommerce 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 10 too high 13 WP BrowserUpdate 1K+ · 4.6★ (16) wp.org #10 ↓4 3 too high 14 Woody Code Snippets – Insert PHP, CSS, JS, and Header/Footer Scripts 50K+ · 4.5★ (221) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 Relevanssi Live Ajax Search 7K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #15 16 Object Cache 4 everyone 5K+ · 4.2★ (30) wp.org #17 ↓3 1 too low 17 Slugs Manager: Delete Old Permalinks from WordPress Database 3K+ · 4.2★ (13) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 Auto Delete Post – Ultimate plugin for deleting a post automatically 300+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #23 ↓7 5 too low 19 Search & Replace Everything by WPCode – Find and Replace Media, Text, Links, and More 20K+ · 3.9★ (7) wp.org #11 8 too high 20 Redirect 404 to Home Page – Custom URL 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 ↓1 11 too high 21 Auto Post Cleaner 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #13 8 too high 22 F Fast Smooth Scroll 800+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #20 ↓3 2 too high 23 k-OutDated Checker (k-OC) 60+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #6 ↓2 17 too high 24 Auto Update Post Date 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) 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.