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

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 settings”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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.

C

Ranked above its merit

Cryout Serious Theme Settings shows at wp.org #10 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 40K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 16 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #1 2 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708) wp.org #2 3 Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (504) wp.org #5 ↑5 6 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #7 ↑4 1 too low 7 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #6 ↑6 1 too high 8 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #9 ↓3 1 too low 9 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #11 ↑7 2 too low 10 GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #12 ↓4 2 too low 11 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4229) wp.org #13 ↑11 2 too low 12 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too high 13 Plugin Organizer 10K+ · 4.7★ (227) wp.org #14 ↑2 1 too low 14 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #24 ↓2 10 too low 15 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #17 ↓4 2 too low 16 Payment Plugins for PayPal WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (127) wp.org #19 3 too low 17 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #21 ↓2 4 too low 18 C Cryout Serious Theme Settings 40K+ · 4.3★ (16) wp.org #10 ↓1 8 too high 19 Plugin Check (PCP) 10K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 Block Plugin Update 5K+ · 4.4★ (19) wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too high 21 Plugin Groups 1K+ · 4.3★ (31) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too low 22 Easy PHP Settings 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #15 ↓1 7 too high 23 WP Plugin Manager – Deactivate plugins per page 3K+ · 4.4★ (23) wp.org #23 24 Import / Export Customizer Settings 50K+ · 4.7★ (6) wp.org #18 ↓1 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.