wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “plugin performance”
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 performance”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 6 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
Solid Performance – Your No-Code Caching, Performance, & Page Speed Solution shows at wp.org #12 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 4K+ 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.
Performance Lab 100K+ · 4.3★ (51)
wp.org #1 2 
Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667)
wp.org #3 1 too low 3 
Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641)
wp.org #2 1 too high 4 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706)
wp.org #4 ↓1 5 
WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617)
wp.org #5 ↓1 6 
Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN 70K+ · 4.7★ (1488)
wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 
WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228)
wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too low 8 
BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) not PHP-current
wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too high 9 
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #11 ↑7 2 too low 10 
LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778)
wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too low 11 
Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too high 12 
Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #10 ↓3 2 too high 13 
Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397)
wp.org #16 ↑5 3 too low 14 
Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS 200K+ · 4.7★ (612)
wp.org #21 ↓1 7 too low 15 
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 #18 ↓1 3 too low 16 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #24 ↓1 8 too low 17 
GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155)
wp.org #19 ↓6 2 too low 18 
GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #20 ↓4 2 too low 19 
Plugin Check (PCP) 10K+ · 4.5★ (36)
wp.org #17 ↑2 2 too high 20 
Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157)
wp.org #23 3 too low 21 
Swift Performance Lite 6K+ · 3.6★ (125) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #15 6 too high 22 
SpeedyCache – Cache, Optimization, Performance 500K+ · 4.4★ (30) host-installed base
wp.org #14 8 too high 23 
WP Plugin Manager – Deactivate plugins per page 3K+ · 4.4★ (23) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #22 1 too high 24 Solid Performance – Your No-Code Caching, Performance, & Page Speed Solution 4K+ · 4.3★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #12 ↓1 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.