Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “posts per rss”

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 “posts per rss”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

RSS Retriever Lite shows at wp.org #8 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) places #8 on merit, 5.0★ from 423 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565) wp.org #1 2 RSS Aggregator by Feedzy – Feed to Post, Autoblogging, News & YouTube Video Feeds Aggregator 40K+ · 4.6★ (361) wp.org #2 3 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3003) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Hide Posts 20K+ · 4.7★ (22) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 WPeMatico RSS Feed Fetcher 10K+ · 4.8★ (514) wp.org #7 ↓2 1 too low 7 Blog2Social: Social Media Auto Post & Scheduler 40K+ · 4.5★ (2107) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #13 ↓2 5 too low 9 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #10 ↑3 1 too low 10 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #14 4 too low 11 XML Sitemap Generator for Google 1M+ · 4.8★ (2233) wp.org #15 4 too low 12 Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) wp.org #11 ↓3 1 too high 13 RSS Feed Widget 2K+ · 3.9★ (26) wp.org #5 ↑5 8 too high 14 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #20 ↑2 6 too low 15 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #18 ↑3 3 too low 16 Ultimate Post Kit – Elementor Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider & Blog Layout Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (58) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 Revive Social – Social Media Auto Post and Scheduling Automation Plugin 20K+ · 4.0★ (556) wp.org #16 ↑1 1 too high 18 The Plus Addons for Elementor – Mega Menu, Header Footer, Post Grid, AI Widgets & Templates 100K+ · 4.6★ (388) wp.org #21 ↑3 3 too low 19 Seriously Simple Podcasting 20K+ · 4.7★ (330) wp.org #17 ↓5 2 too high 20 Social Preview and Open Graph Tags 50K+ · 4.6★ (122) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #19 2 too high 22 CryptX 10K+ · 4.5★ (20) wp.org #22 ↑1 23 RSS Retriever Lite 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 ↓1 15 too high 24 DaazSync – RSS News Aggregator 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 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.