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

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 friendly”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

VenoMaps – OpenStreetMap & Privacy-Friendly Geo Maps shows at wp.org #10 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 7519 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. 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★ (758) wp.org #1 2 Koko Analytics – Privacy-Friendly WordPress Analytics 70K+ · 5.0★ (245) wp.org #2 3 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167) wp.org #8 ↑3 4 too low 5 Matomo Analytics – Powerful, Privacy-First Insights for WordPress 100K+ · 4.6★ (178) wp.org #5 ↓2 6 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #14 ↓2 8 too low 7 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #17 ↓3 10 too low 8 Embed Privacy 10K+ · 4.9★ (26) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too high 9 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #19 10 too low 10 Friendly Captcha for WordPress 10K+ · 3.9★ (18) wp.org #4 ↑1 6 too high 11 D Disable Emojis (GDPR friendly) 60K+ · 5.0★ (108) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too high 13 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 Search Insights – Privacy-Friendly Search Analytics 3K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #6 ↑1 8 too high 15 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #22 ↓5 7 too low 16 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #24 ↓3 8 too low 17 Plausible Analytics 10K+ · 5.0★ (29) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 Simple Like Page – Fast & Privacy-Friendly Page Embeds 10K+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #9 9 too high 19 Playlist Player for YouTube – Fast, Privacy-Friendly Playlists & Channel Feed 1K+ · 4.8★ (13) wp.org #12 7 too high 20 VenoMaps – OpenStreetMap & Privacy-Friendly Geo Maps 400+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #10 ↓2 10 too high 21 QA Assistants – Driven by data 2K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 Easy Spam Filter – Privacy-Friendly CAPTCHA Alternative with Turnstile for Contact Form 7, WPForms, BuddyPress, Elementor 1K+ · 4.0★ (7) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 Statify – Extended Evaluation 20K+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too high 24 Termageddon: Cookie Consent & Privacy Compliance 8K+ · 5.0★ (5) 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.