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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “preferred”

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 “preferred”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 4 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

GoSMTP – SMTP for WordPress shows at wp.org #8 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 500K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 10 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Responsive Lightbox & Gallery places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 2003 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Preferred Languages 3K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Dark Mode – Improve Accessibility with AI Powered Dark Theme 20K+ · 4.5★ (391) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too low 7 Add as Preferred Source on Google 900+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #2 5 too high 8 Germanized for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (496) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too low 9 Breeze Cache 300K+ · 3.6★ (133) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too high 10 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #12 ↑4 2 too low 11 Mercado Pago payments for WooCommerce 100K+ · 3.9★ (693) wp.org #9 ↑5 2 too high 12 Responsive Lightbox & Gallery 100K+ · 4.9★ (2003) wp.org #24 12 too low 13 File Manager Pro – Filester 100K+ · 4.9★ (155) wp.org #16 ↑5 3 too low 14 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #20 ↑3 6 too low 15 reSmush.it : The original free image compressor and optimizer plugin 100K+ · 4.3★ (166) wp.org #15 16 WPZOOM Connect: Social Icons Widget & Block, Share Buttons & Click to Chat 90K+ · 4.9★ (144) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 Image Watermark 40K+ · 4.2★ (298) wp.org #17 18 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 WPC Name Your Price for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.4★ (19) wp.org #10 ↓1 9 too high 20 Payment Gateway Based Fees and Discounts for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.7★ (58) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 GoSMTP – SMTP for WordPress 500K+ · 4.3★ (10) wp.org #8 ↓1 13 too high 22 Custom Payment Gateways for WooCommerce 8K+ · 3.8★ (21) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too high 23 Telephone field for Elementor Forms 4K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #14 ↓1 9 too high 24 Advance Canonical URL 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) 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.