Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 ranking”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Outdated Plugin Notifier shows at wp.org #9 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 9 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Easy Social Feed – All In One Social Feed Plugin for WordPress places #12 on merit, 4.6★ from 502 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #1 2 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #2 3 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708) wp.org #3 4 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #4 5 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 GeoDirectory – WP Business Directory Plugin and Classified Listings Directory 10K+ · 4.8★ (716) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO 30K+ · 4.6★ (683) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too low 9 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #13 ↓1 4 too low 10 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #15 ↑1 5 too low 11 FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) wp.org #21 ↓3 10 too low 12 Easy Social Feed – All In One Social Feed Plugin for WordPress 30K+ · 4.6★ (502) wp.org #24 12 too low 13 Xagio SEO & AEO – AI SEO for Google Rankings & AI Visibility 10K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #10 3 too high 14 B bbp user ranking 200+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #6 8 too high 15 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 SEO Redirection Plugin – 301 Redirect Manager 10K+ · 4.3★ (73) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) wp.org #20 ↓3 3 too low 18 Outdated Plugin Notifier 400+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #9 9 too high 19 Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87) wp.org #17 ↓3 2 too high 20 ThinkRank SEO – AI SEO Plugin for SEO & Google Search Console 20K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #16 ↑7 4 too high 21 Quiz Cat – WordPress Quiz Plugin 4K+ · 4.7★ (35) wp.org #23 ↓1 2 too low 22 Surfer – WordPress Plugin 6K+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #14 ↑1 8 too high 23 ExactMetrics – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Plugin) 200K+ · 2.5★ (1546) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too high 24 BeyondSEO – AI SEO to Improve Rankings, Listings & Online Visibility 20K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #19 ↑1 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.