wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “plugin per page”
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 per page”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 of the top 20. 5 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
Page Visits Counter – Lite shows at wp.org #11 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager places #11 on merit, 5.0★ from 1526 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.
Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517)
wp.org #2 1 too low 2 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708)
wp.org #3 1 too low 3 
WP Plugin Manager – Deactivate plugins per page 3K+ · 4.4★ (23) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #1 2 too high 4 
Products Per Page for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (80)
wp.org #4 ↑16 5 
Duplicate Page 3M+ · 4.8★ (466)
wp.org #5 ↓1 6 
Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (504)
wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 
Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) heavy footprint
wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too high 8 
Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397)
wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 
All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) not PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too high 10 
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #12 ↓1 2 too low 11 Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1526)
wp.org #20 ↓1 9 too low 12 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #16 ↓2 4 too low 13 
BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) not PHP-current
wp.org #13 ↑5 14 
Simple Page Ordering 100K+ · 4.7★ (131)
wp.org #17 ↓2 3 too low 15 
GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155)
wp.org #14 ↓2 1 too high 16 
PPWP – Password Protect Pages 30K+ · 4.7★ (271)
wp.org #21 5 too low 17 
Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167)
wp.org #23 6 too low 18 
Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641)
wp.org #18 ↓2 19 
GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #19 ↓2 20 
Number of Products per Page – Pagination Manager for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #10 ↓1 10 too high 21 
Payment Plugins for PayPal WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (127) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Page Visits Counter – Lite 5K+ · 4.0★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #11 ↓1 11 too high 23 
Currency per Product for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.1★ (17) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #22 1 too high 24 P Page Optimize 200K+ · 3.0★ (5) host-installed base thin reviews
wp.org #15 ↓2 9 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.