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

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 health”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 2 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.

S

Ranked above its merit

Site Health Tools shows at wp.org #6 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 27821 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Umbrella: Security Backup Restore & Monitoring 90K+ · 4.8★ (81) 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 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #8 4 too low 5 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 Plugin Report 1K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 Easy Updates Manager 300K+ · 4.8★ (726) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #16 ↑3 7 too low 10 HivePress – Business Directory, Listings & Classified Ads Plugin 10K+ · 4.9★ (221) wp.org #13 3 too low 11 CartFlows – Funnel Builder & Checkout Plugin for WooCommerce 200K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too high 12 WP Server Health Stats 9K+ · 4.8★ (110) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too high 13 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #21 ↑2 8 too low 14 Slim SEO – AI SEO Plugin, Lightweight, Fast & Automated 70K+ · 4.7★ (136) wp.org #15 ↑1 1 too low 15 Plugin Detective – Troubleshooting Conflicts 5K+ · 4.0★ (49) wp.org #7 8 too high 16 The Hack Repair Guy’s Plugin Archiver 300+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #14 ↑1 2 too high 17 Version Info – Server Health Monitor, PHP & MySQL Version Display, Environment Indicators 10K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #20 3 too low 18 S Site Health Tools 500+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #6 ↓1 12 too high 19 ExactMetrics – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Plugin) 200K+ · 2.5★ (1546) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 phpinfo() WP – Site Health, PHP Compatibility & Server Audit 3K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #17 ↓3 3 too high 21 Server Info – System Health & Diagnostics Suite 3K+ · 3.8★ (12) wp.org #18 3 too high 22 MLSImport: IDX Plugin & MLS Plugin for Real Estate Listings 5K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Health Endpoint 3K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too high 24 CFF Fitness and Health Operations 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓2 5 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.