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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “php mail”

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 “php mail”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Zoho Mail for WordPress shows at wp.org #6 but places #10 on merit, a gap of 4 places. Its 20K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 42 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #1 2 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #2 3 WP Mail Logging 300K+ · 4.7★ (375) wp.org #3 4 Insert PHP Code Snippet 90K+ · 4.9★ (707) wp.org #4 5 Mail logging & Catcher 20K+ · 4.9★ (108) wp.org #5 6 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Mail Mint – Email Marketing, Automation & WooCommerce Emails with AI Assistance 4K+ · 4.7★ (125) wp.org #7 ↑1 8 Email Template Designer – WP HTML Mail 20K+ · 4.8★ (87) wp.org #8 ↓1 9 Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging 90K+ · 4.8★ (292) wp.org #12 ↑1 3 too low 10 Zoho Mail for WordPress 20K+ · 3.7★ (42) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 Manage Notification E-mails 100K+ · 4.8★ (56) wp.org #11 12 FluentSnippets – High-Performance Code Snippets, Header & Footer Code, Custom CSS & PHP Code Manager 50K+ · 4.7★ (78) wp.org #13 ↑1 1 too low 13 Solid Mail – SMTP email and logging made by SolidWP 60K+ · 4.2★ (52) wp.org #10 3 too high 14 Preview E-mails for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.9★ (85) wp.org #17 3 too low 15 SMTP Mailer 70K+ · 4.6★ (67) wp.org #15 ↓3 16 YaySMTP – WP Mail SMTP with Email Logs, Tracking & Reports 10K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #19 3 too low 17 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #23 ↑1 6 too low 18 Ultimate WP Mail 700+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #14 ↑1 4 too high 19 Royal Mail Shipping Calculator for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.4★ (8) wp.org #16 3 too high 20 F4 Shipping Phone and E-Mail for WooCommerce 700+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #20 21 GoSMTP – SMTP for WordPress 500K+ · 4.3★ (10) wp.org #18 3 too high 22 Zoho ZeptoMail 5K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 23 SMTP Mail Control for MailPoet 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 Magic Login Mail or QR Code 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24

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.