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← Rankings

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

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 “place”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

WPSSO Schema Organization and Place Manager shows at wp.org #5 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation places #10 on merit, 4.7★ from 1667 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. 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 Search in Place 3K+ · 4.9★ (64) wp.org #2 3 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too low 5 Rich Showcase for Google Reviews 100K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #9 ↑1 4 too low 6 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #10 ↑3 4 too low 7 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #8 ↑2 1 too low 8 Place Order Without Payment for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #3 5 too high 9 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #15 ↓1 5 too low 11 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #16 5 too low 12 WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1915) wp.org #17 ↑4 5 too low 13 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #13 ↑9 14 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #18 ↑1 4 too low 15 EmbedPress 100K+ · 4.8★ (307) wp.org #19 ↑4 4 too low 16 Header Footer Code Manager 600K+ · 4.9★ (309) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 Inactive Logout 10K+ · 4.8★ (106) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) wp.org #22 ↓4 4 too low 19 Reviews and Rating – Google Reviews 20K+ · 4.9★ (184) wp.org #21 ↓4 2 too low 20 We’re Open! 5K+ · 5.0★ (45) wp.org #23 ↑1 3 too low 21 WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments 800K+ · 3.4★ (177) wp.org #14 ↑1 7 too high 22 Autocomplete Google places 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 11 too high 23 WPSSO Schema Organization and Place Manager 300+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #5 18 too high 24 Customize Place Order & Add to cart Button for Woocommerce 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 12 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.