wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “plugins 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 “plugins page”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 4 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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 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 #13 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 10 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.
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322)
wp.org #1 2 
Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303)
wp.org #2 3 
Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517)
wp.org #3 ↑1 4 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708)
wp.org #4 ↓1 5 
Duplicate Page 3M+ · 4.8★ (466)
wp.org #5 6 
Payment Plugins for PayPal WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (127)
wp.org #6 7 
Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940)
wp.org #9 2 too low 8 
Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333)
wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too high 9 
Under Construction 600K+ · 4.8★ (1285)
wp.org #11 2 too low 10 P Page-list 30K+ · 4.7★ (89)
wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too high 11 
Page scroll to id 100K+ · 4.9★ (225)
wp.org #12 1 too low 12 
Freesoul Deactivate Plugins – Disable plugins on individual WordPress pages 8K+ · 4.8★ (104)
wp.org #10 2 too high 13 
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #17 ↓3 4 too low 14 
WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228)
wp.org #16 ↑3 2 too low 15 
WP Sitemap Page 200K+ · 4.8★ (205)
wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too high 16 
BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323)
wp.org #18 2 too low 17 
Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397)
wp.org #23 6 too low 18 
Simple Page Ordering 100K+ · 4.7★ (131)
wp.org #21 ↓1 3 too low 19 
Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641)
wp.org #22 3 too low 20 
Colibri Page Builder 80K+ · 4.4★ (80)
wp.org #24 4 too low 21 U Upload Larger Plugins 6K+ · 5.0★ (20) thin reviews
wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too high 22 
WP Duplicate Page 60K+ · 4.2★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #15 ↑1 7 too high 23 Page Visits Counter – Lite 5K+ · 4.0★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #13 10 too high 24 P Page Optimize 200K+ · 3.0★ (5) host-installed base thin reviews
wp.org #19 ↓2 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.