wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “power box”
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 “power box”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20.
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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.
Ranked above its merit
Power Boost for Gravity Forms shows at wp.org #3 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322)
wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too low 2 
WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617)
wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too low 3 
TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too low 4 
Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132)
wp.org #6 2 too low 5 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708)
wp.org #7 2 too low 6 
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #8 2 too low 7 
Power Coupons for WooCommerce 30K+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #1 6 too high 8 
Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680)
wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too low 9 
All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676)
wp.org #12 ↓2 3 too low 10 
Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205)
wp.org #13 ↓2 3 too low 11 
Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333)
wp.org #11 ↑1 12 
Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517)
wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too low 13 
Autoptimize 800K+ · 4.7★ (1428)
wp.org #14 ↓1 1 too low 14 
PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322)
wp.org #19 ↓2 5 too low 15 Power Boost for Gravity Forms 500+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews
wp.org #3 ↓1 12 too high 16 
Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612)
wp.org #17 ↓2 1 too low 17 
CartFlows – Funnel Builder & Checkout Plugin for WooCommerce 200K+ · 4.8★ (517)
wp.org #21 ↓2 4 too low 18 
Breeze Cache 300K+ · 3.6★ (133)
wp.org #9 ↓1 9 too high 19 
Addon Elements for Elementor (formerly Elementor Addon Elements) 80K+ · 4.8★ (172)
wp.org #23 ↓3 4 too low 20 
Advanced Free Shipping for WooCommerce 40K+ · 4.8★ (122)
wp.org #22 2 too low 21 
Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641)
wp.org #18 3 too high 22 
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408)
wp.org #20 2 too high 23 
WP Fast Total Search – The Power of Indexed Search 1K+ · 4.4★ (28)
wp.org #16 7 too high 24 
Ultimate Floating Widgets – Make popup sidebars 3K+ · 4.9★ (14) thin reviews
wp.org #24 ↓3 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.