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← Rankings

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

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 “policy”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 4 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

ats privacy policy shows at wp.org #7 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

iubenda | All-in-one Compliance for GDPR / CCPA Cookie Consent + more places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 397 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1668) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 TermsFeed AutoTerms: Privacy Policy Generator, Cookie Consent, GDPR, CCPA, Terms & Conditions, Disclaimers, Cookies Policy, EULA 70K+ · 4.7★ (246) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #6 ↓1 3 too low 4 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #9 ↓1 5 too low 5 Privacy Policy Generator, Terms & Conditions, GDPR, CCPA, Cookie Policy & Disclaimer Templates – WPLP Legal Pages 10K+ · 4.7★ (93) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 Cookies and Content Security Policy 10K+ · 4.9★ (67) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Password Policy Manager 6K+ · 4.4★ (14) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #13 ↓2 5 too low 9 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #16 ↓2 7 too low 10 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #17 7 too low 11 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #12 1 too low 12 iubenda | All-in-one Compliance for GDPR / CCPA Cookie Consent + more 200K+ · 4.7★ (397) wp.org #22 10 too low 13 Legal Pages – Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions, GDPR, CCPA, and Cookie Notice Generator 8K+ · 4.3★ (29) wp.org #10 ↑3 3 too high 14 MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) wp.org #24 ↓2 10 too low 15 WPConsent – Cookie Banner & Cookie Consent for Privacy Compliance (GDPR / CCPA / EU Compliance Cookie Notice) 200K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #20 ↑3 5 too low 16 FAZ Cookie Manager 3K+ · 5.0★ (30) wp.org #21 ↑3 5 too low 17 WP Terms Popup – Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy WordPress Popups 3K+ · 4.8★ (15) wp.org #18 ↑2 1 too low 18 WPSSO Schema Merchant Return Policy Manager 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #8 ↑1 10 too high 19 ats privacy policy 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #7 12 too high 20 GDPR tools: Cookie notice + privacy 5K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 Teydea Login Security – Password Policy, Complexity Rules & Expiration 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↑5 10 too high 22 LegalBlink 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↑4 8 too high 23 GetTerms Cookie Consent & Policies 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↑4 8 too high 24 oik-privacy-policy 700+ · 4.0★ (2) 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.