Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “post age”

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 “post age”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 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

AC’s Retirement Age Calculator shows at wp.org #8 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress places #5 on merit, 4.7★ from 1511 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Age Gate 40K+ · 4.6★ (64) wp.org #1 2 Revive Social – Social Media Auto Post and Scheduling Automation Plugin 20K+ · 4.0★ (556) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #11 8 too low 4 WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565) wp.org #13 9 too low 5 Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (1511) wp.org #17 ↓1 12 too low 6 Marijuana Age Verify 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #2 4 too high 7 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #14 ↑3 7 too low 8 Dynamic Month & Year into Posts 8K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 The Plus Addons for Elementor – Mega Menu, Header Footer, Post Grid, AI Widgets & Templates 100K+ · 4.6★ (388) wp.org #16 ↓1 7 too low 10 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #19 8 too low 12 Popup Builder – Create highly converting, mobile friendly marketing popups. 200K+ · 4.7★ (2215) wp.org #18 6 too low 13 404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring 100K+ · 4.7★ (321) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 Post My CF7 Form 2K+ · 4.8★ (48) wp.org #10 4 too high 15 CPS | Age Verification 800+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #5 10 too high 16 Easy Age Verify 1K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #3 13 too high 17 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) wp.org #20 3 too low 18 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #9 ↓2 9 too high 19 Plugin Organizer 10K+ · 4.7★ (227) wp.org #22 ↑2 3 too low 20 Easy HTTPS Redirection (SSL) 100K+ · 4.2★ (71) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 Social Post Flow – Social Media Automation, Scheduling, Scheduler, Posting & Auto Post 200+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #7 ↑2 14 too high 22 DHL Shipping Germany for WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.0★ (47) wp.org #15 ↓1 7 too high 23 AC’s Retirement Age Calculator 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 15 too high 24 Republish Old Posts 2K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #21 3 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.