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

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 head includes”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

Post Pay Counter shows at wp.org #8 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 46 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 #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 1511 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Head Meta Data 10K+ · 4.8★ (19) thin reviews wp.org #1 2

Head, Footer and Post Injections 200K+ · 4.9★ (735) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #2 3

Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5

Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #5 ↑1 6

AddFunc Head & Footer Code 20K+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #3 3 too high 7

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #9 2 too low 8

User Submitted Posts – Enable Users to Submit Posts from the Front End 10K+ · 4.8★ (913) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too low 9

Content Views – Post Grid & Filter (Shortcode, Blocks, Elementor Widgets) 100K+ · 4.8★ (333) heavy footprint wp.org #7 2 too high 10

ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #12 ↑2 2 too low 11

Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (1511) wp.org #18 ↓1 7 too low 12

GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too high 13

PixelYourSite – Your smart PIXEL (TAG) & API Manager 400K+ · 4.3★ (281) wp.org #14 ↑5 1 too low 14

Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) not PHP-current wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too high 15

Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) not PHP-current wp.org #20 5 too low 16

Disable Gutenberg 500K+ · 5.0★ (735) wp.org #22 6 too low 17

Post Pay Counter 1K+ · 4.8★ (46) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #8 9 too high 18

Header Footer Code Manager 600K+ · 4.9★ (309) not PHP-current wp.org #15 ↓2 3 too high 19

WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1916) wp.org #23 4 too low 20

Email Subscribers & Newsletters by Icegram Express – Email Marketing, Post Notifications & WooCommerce Marekting Automation for WordPress 50K+ · 4.6★ (1170) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too high 21

Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too high 22

GA Google Analytics – Connect Google Analytics to WordPress 400K+ · 4.9★ (158) wp.org #21 1 too high 23

a3 Lazy Load 80K+ · 4.3★ (148) wp.org #24 1 too low 24

Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) thin reviews wp.org #16 ↓1 8 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.