wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “premium wordpress plugins”
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 “premium wordpress plugins”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 4 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
Freesoul Deactivate Plugins – Disable plugins on individual WordPress pages shows at wp.org #12 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 8K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 104 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820)
wp.org #1 2 
Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680)
wp.org #2 3 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8709)
wp.org #3 4 
TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625)
wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 
BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323)
wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6 
MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157)
wp.org #6 ↓2 7 
Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040)
wp.org #7 8 
WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4229)
wp.org #8 9 
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144)
wp.org #9 10 
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387)
wp.org #11 1 too low 11 
Hustle – Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Optins, Popups 80K+ · 4.4★ (859)
wp.org #10 1 too high 12 
Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869)
wp.org #15 ↑2 3 too low 13 
All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231)
wp.org #14 ↓2 1 too low 14 
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #17 ↑3 3 too low 15 
WP 2FA – Two-factor authentication for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (184)
wp.org #13 ↑10 2 too high 16 
GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708)
wp.org #18 ↓5 2 too low 17 
MC4WP: Mailchimp for WordPress 1M+ · 4.8★ (1497)
wp.org #16 1 too high 18 Freesoul Deactivate Plugins – Disable plugins on individual WordPress pages 8K+ · 4.8★ (104)
wp.org #12 ↑2 6 too high 19 
Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205)
wp.org #20 1 too low 20 
Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (398)
wp.org #22 2 too low 21 
wpDataTables – WordPress Data Table, Dynamic Tables & Table Charts Plugin 60K+ · 4.5★ (449)
wp.org #23 ↓5 2 too low 22 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #21 1 too high 23 
LearnPress – WordPress LMS Plugin for Create and Sell Online Courses 70K+ · 4.3★ (597)
wp.org #24 1 too low 24 U Upload Larger Plugins 6K+ · 5.0★ (20) thin reviews
wp.org #19 5 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.