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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “private ssl”

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

Volixta SSL & Security Headers – Free SSL Certificates, HTTPS & Mixed Content Fixer shows at wp.org #6 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Auto Upload Images places #11 on merit, 4.3★ from 106 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Encryption: Easy HTTPS / SSL & Free SSL certificate, HTTPS redirect 50K+ · 4.9★ (1146) wp.org #1 2 SSL Zen — SSL Certificate Installer & HTTPS Redirects 9K+ · 4.9★ (665) wp.org #2 3 Auto-Install Free SSL – Generate & Install Free SSL Certificates 8K+ · 4.9★ (405) wp.org #3 4 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #4 5 MainWP Dashboard: Self-hosted WordPress Management for Agencies 20K+ · 4.9★ (2354) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Simply Static – The Static Site Generator 30K+ · 4.5★ (195) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 LifterLMS – WP LMS for eLearning, Online Courses, & Quizzes 10K+ · 4.8★ (393) wp.org #10 ↓1 3 too low 8 Cloudflare 200K+ · 3.5★ (181) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 WP Video Lightbox 30K+ · 4.3★ (67) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too low 11 Auto Upload Images 20K+ · 4.3★ (106) wp.org #16 ↓3 5 too low 12 GravityExport Lite for Gravity Forms 10K+ · 5.0★ (39) wp.org #17 ↓2 5 too low 13 Version Info – Server Health Monitor, PHP & MySQL Version Display, Environment Indicators 10K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too high 14 Infinity23 (Formerly Tag Manager) – One Plugin That Replaces All The Rest 20K+ · 4.7★ (53) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 Theme My Login 50K+ · 3.7★ (460) wp.org #23 ↓2 8 too low 16 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87) wp.org #19 ↓3 2 too low 18 Peter's Post Notes – Admin Notes for Posts and Pages 3K+ · 4.9★ (26) wp.org #21 ↓2 3 too low 19 LWS Tools 10K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too high 20 HIPAA Forms 700+ · 4.3★ (9) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 AyeCode Connect 10K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 FlyWP Helper – Page Cache, Page Optimization, Emails for FlyWP Server Control Panel 4K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 Volixta SSL & Security Headers – Free SSL Certificates, HTTPS & Mixed Content Fixer 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 17 too high 24 Uptime Monitoring for WordPress – My Website is Online 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↑2 9 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.