Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “privacy”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Gravatar Enhanced – Avatars, Profiles, and Privacy shows at wp.org #6 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 100K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 5209 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (759) wp.org #1 ↑2 2 Koko Analytics – Privacy-Friendly WordPress Analytics 70K+ · 5.0★ (245) wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too low 3 Embed Privacy 10K+ · 4.9★ (26) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too high 4 WPConsent – Cookie Banner & Cookie Consent for Privacy Compliance (GDPR / CCPA / EU Compliance Cookie Notice) 200K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too high 5 TermsFeed AutoTerms: Privacy Policy Generator, Cookie Consent, GDPR, CCPA, Terms & Conditions, Disclaimers, Cookies Policy, EULA 70K+ · 4.7★ (246) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #12 ↓3 6 too low 7 Matomo Analytics – Powerful, Privacy-First Insights for WordPress 100K+ · 4.6★ (178) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too high 8 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #9 ↑4 1 too low 9 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #10 ↓4 1 too low 10 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #17 ↓9 7 too low 11 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #19 8 too low 12 Contact Form 7 10M+ · 4.0★ (2186) wp.org #14 ↑2 2 too low 13 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1668) wp.org #18 ↓8 5 too low 14 Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 My Agile Privacy® – CMP, Cookie Consent & Privacy Tools 7K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 GDPR tools: Cookie notice + privacy 5K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #8 8 too high 17 Privacy Policy Generator, Terms & Conditions, GDPR, CCPA, Cookie Policy & Disclaimer Templates – WPLP Legal Pages 10K+ · 4.7★ (93) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Gravatar Enhanced – Avatars, Profiles, and Privacy 100K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 ↑6 12 too high 19 Search Insights – Privacy-Friendly Search Analytics 3K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 Termageddon: Cookie Consent & Privacy Compliance 8K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #13 ↑1 7 too high 21 Free Cookie Notice & Consent Banner for Privacy Compliance (GDPR, CCPA, DSGVO and others) 7K+ · 4.0★ (16) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 Simple Like Page – Fast & Privacy-Friendly Page Embeds 10K+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 IL Privacy & Cookie Consent 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 8 too high 24 ats privacy policy 200+ · 5.0★ (3) 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.