wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “post drafts”
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 drafts”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 2 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
Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts shows at wp.org #9 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 2144 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588)
wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too low 2 
Yoast Duplicate Post 3M+ · 4.7★ (538) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #1 1 too high 3 
Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172)
wp.org #3 ↓1 4 
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821)
wp.org #7 ↓1 3 too low 5 
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408)
wp.org #4 1 too high 6 
Public Post Preview 100K+ · 4.6★ (79)
wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too high 7 
Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1526)
wp.org #11 ↓2 4 too low 8 
Post Duplicator 200K+ · 4.8★ (80)
wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too high 9 
WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (195)
wp.org #10 ↓2 1 too low 10 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144)
wp.org #21 ↓7 11 too low 11 
W4 Post List 3K+ · 4.7★ (94)
wp.org #14 ↓2 3 too low 12 
Revive Social – Social Media Auto Post and Scheduling Automation Plugin 20K+ · 4.0★ (556)
wp.org #18 ↓1 6 too low 13 
Post and Page Builder by BoldGrid – Visual Drag and Drop Editor 50K+ · 4.7★ (140)
wp.org #20 ↓1 7 too low 14 
Content Blocks (Custom Post Widget) 10K+ · 4.9★ (80)
wp.org #19 ↓1 5 too low 15 
Archive Content with Archived Post Status 5K+ · 4.9★ (36)
wp.org #15 ↑6 16 
Hide Drafts in Menus 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) thin reviews
wp.org #8 ↓1 8 too high 17 
Peter's Post Notes – Admin Notes for Posts and Pages 3K+ · 4.9★ (26)
wp.org #17 ↓3 18 
MB Custom Post Types & Custom Taxonomies 10K+ · 4.7★ (13) thin reviews
wp.org #13 ↓2 5 too high 19 Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts 5K+ · 4.7★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #9 ↑4 10 too high 20 
Post Type Transfer 2K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #12 ↑4 8 too high 21 
Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #24 ↓2 3 too low 22 
Share a Draft 3K+ · 3.7★ (11) thin reviews
wp.org #16 ↓6 6 too high 23 
Social Post Flow – Social Media Automation, Scheduling, Scheduler, Posting & Auto Post 200+ · 4.2★ (10) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #22 1 too high 24 
Controlled Draft Publisher 300+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #23 ↓4 1 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.