wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “personal bests”
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 “personal bests”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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
Personal Dictionary – Vocabulary Games, Memory Games shows at wp.org #3 but places #12 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 60+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #1 2 
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #2 ↑1 3 
Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358)
wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too low 4 
Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection 5M+ · 4.7★ (1187)
wp.org #4 ↑1 5 
Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433)
wp.org #8 ↑3 3 too low 6 
The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461)
wp.org #6 7 
XML Sitemap Generator for Google 1M+ · 4.8★ (2233)
wp.org #7 8 
Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612)
wp.org #9 1 too low 9 
Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376)
wp.org #12 3 too low 10 
Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution 100K+ · 4.4★ (590) heavy footprint
wp.org #10 11 
GDPR Cookie Compliance – Cookie Banner, Cookie Consent, Cookie Notice for CCPA, EU Cookie Law 300K+ · 4.6★ (205)
wp.org #11 ↑1 12 Personal Dictionary – Vocabulary Games, Memory Games 60+ · 4.8★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #3 ↓1 9 too high 13 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #13 ↓2 14 
Quiz Maker by AYS 20K+ · 4.9★ (601)
wp.org #19 5 too low 15 
Simply Schedule Appointments 50K+ · 5.0★ (155)
wp.org #15 ↑1 16 
Affiliate Program Suite — SliceWP Affiliates 10K+ · 4.9★ (111)
wp.org #14 ↑2 2 too high 17 
WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565)
wp.org #18 ↓3 1 too low 18 
Social Feed Gallery 80K+ · 4.5★ (303)
wp.org #16 ↑2 2 too high 19 
Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591)
wp.org #22 3 too low 20 
GeoDirectory – WP Business Directory Plugin and Classified Listings Directory 10K+ · 4.8★ (716) heavy footprint
wp.org #21 1 too low 21 
Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 100K+ · 4.8★ (215)
wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22 
Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641)
wp.org #17 5 too high 23 
hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88)
wp.org #24 ↓3 1 too low 24 
Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) throws errorsnot PHP-current
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.