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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “plugin check”

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 “plugin check”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 7 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

WP Spell Check shows at wp.org #13 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.9★ average from 39 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin places #6 on merit, 4.9★ from 1281 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Plugin Check (PCP) 10K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #3 4 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #6 ↑2 2 too low 5 Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging 90K+ · 4.8★ (292) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #11 ↑5 5 too low 7 Theme Check 20K+ · 4.8★ (195) wp.org #9 ↓2 2 too low 8 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too high 9 Download Plugin 60K+ · 4.5★ (27) wp.org #5 4 too high 10 Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too high 11 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too high 12 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #16 ↓3 4 too low 13 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too low 14 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #18 3 too low 16 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #15 ↓1 2 too high 18 Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #17 2 too high 20 Plugin Organizer 10K+ · 4.7★ (227) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 Payment Plugins for PayPal WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (127) wp.org #21 22 Vendi Abandoned Plugin Check 1K+ · 4.1★ (10) wp.org #12 ↓2 10 too high 23 Plugin Groups 1K+ · 4.3★ (31) wp.org #23 24 WP Spell Check 2K+ · 2.9★ (39) wp.org #13 ↓1 11 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.