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← Rankings

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

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 “paginated”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

GoSMTP – SMTP for WordPress shows at wp.org #6 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 500K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 10 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO places #3 on merit, 4.8★ from 1267 reviews, but shows at wp.org #8. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #1 2 Export All URLs 50K+ · 4.6★ (94) wp.org #2 3 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #8 5 too low 4 Xpro Theme Builder For Elementor – FREE 20K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Export Media URLs 7K+ · 5.0★ (29) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Latest Post Shortcode 4K+ · 4.8★ (46) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 CMS Tree Page View – Reorder Pages with a Drag-and-Drop Tree 50K+ · 4.9★ (365) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 Data Tables Generator by Supsystic – Excel-like, WooCommerce & Pricing Tables 10K+ · 4.7★ (497) wp.org #13 5 too low 9 Pagination by BestWebSoft – Customizable WordPress Content Splitter and Navigation Plugin 5K+ · 4.8★ (45) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 Footnotes Made Easy 2K+ · 4.6★ (40) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 Super RSS Reader – Add attractive RSS Feed Widget 9K+ · 4.6★ (67) wp.org #11 12 WP Maps – Google Maps, OpenStreetMap, Mapbox, Store Locator with Search, Filters & Listings 60K+ · 4.3★ (122) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 ThinkRank SEO – AI SEO Plugin for SEO & Google Search Console 20K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 Enable Abilities for MCP 5K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 GoSMTP – SMTP for WordPress 500K+ · 4.3★ (10) wp.org #6 9 too high 16 Import XML and RSS Feeds 2K+ · 3.8★ (24) wp.org #17 1 too low 17 WP-Ban 8K+ · 3.7★ (27) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 Visibility – Lightweight SEO, AEO and GEO for Search and AI 600+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 Simple Ebook Viewer 400+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 WP-EMail 1K+ · 4.5★ (11) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 Media Export & Clean 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 7 too high 22 Simple Points and Rewards for WooCommerce – Create a Loyalty Program 400+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Werk aan de Muur 900+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 CodingBunny Database Cleaner 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 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.