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

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 installer”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20.

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

Fatal Plugin Auto Deactivator – Never let a plugin break your site shows at wp.org #11 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Robo Gallery – Photo & Image Slider places #12 on merit, 4.3★ from 406 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #1 2

WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #3 1 too low 3

SSL Zen — SSL Certificate Installer & HTTPS Redirects 9K+ · 4.9★ (665) wp.org #4 1 too low 4

Plugin Groups 1K+ · 4.3★ (31) wp.org #2 2 too high 5

NinjaFirewall (WP Edition) – Advanced Security Plugin and Firewall 100K+ · 4.9★ (220) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6

Feeds for YouTube (YouTube video, channel, and gallery plugin) 100K+ · 4.8★ (205) wp.org #10 ↓2 4 too low 7

WPCore Plugin Manager 9K+ · 4.8★ (32) wp.org #5 2 too high 8

Brevo – Email, SMS, Web Push, Chat, and more. 100K+ · 4.1★ (284) wp.org #9 ↑3 1 too low 9

Perfect Brands for WooCommerce 40K+ · 4.7★ (414) wp.org #15 ↓2 6 too low 10

Registrations for the Events Calendar – Event Registration Plugin 7K+ · 5.0★ (103) wp.org #14 ↑2 4 too low 11 U Upload Larger Plugins 6K+ · 5.0★ (20) thin reviews wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too high 12

Robo Gallery – Photo & Image Slider 40K+ · 4.3★ (406) wp.org #20 8 too low 13

EZ Downloader – Plugin & Theme 90+ · 5.0★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #7 ↓1 6 too high 14

WPPizza – A Restaurant Plugin 900+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #17 ↓3 3 too low 15

GSpeech TTS – WordPress Text To Speech Plugin 3K+ · 4.8★ (178) wp.org #23 ↓4 8 too low 16

Pay with Vipps and MobilePay for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.8★ (13) thin reviews wp.org #22 ↓5 6 too low 17

Flexmls® IDX Plugin 1K+ · 3.5★ (22) thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓4 7 too low 18

Mailster WordPress Newsletter Plugin 7K+ · 3.5★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #13 5 too high 19

WSP MCP – Free MCP Plugin for WordPress: Connect Claude, ChatGPT & AI Agents 3K+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #21 2 too low 20

Fatal Plugin Auto Deactivator – Never let a plugin break your site 100+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #11 ↓2 9 too high 21

Easy Demo Importer – A Modern One-Click Demo Import Solution 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #12 ↓2 9 too high 22

My Wp Brand – Hide menu & Hide Plugin 2K+ · 4.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↓4 3 too high 23 O Onsite Optimizer Installer 200+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #16 ↓5 7 too high 24

Skittybop 200+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #18 6 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.