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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “protocol remove”

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 “protocol remove”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 5 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

Cowboy MCP – Free MCP Server with Undo for Claude & ChatGPT shows at wp.org #9 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App places #9 on merit, 4.7★ from 528 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 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Open Graph Protocol Framework 3K+ · 4.3★ (15) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) wp.org #4 5 CookieYes – Cookie Banner for Cookie Consent (Easy to setup GDPR/CCPA Compliant Cookie Notice) 1M+ · 4.8★ (3236) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 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 #7 1 too low 7 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 Smart Custom 404 Error Page 100K+ · 4.9★ (1197) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #16 7 too low 10 I iframe 60K+ · 4.4★ (56) wp.org #13 3 too low 11 Hostinger Reach – AI-Powered Email Marketing for WordPress 1M+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #3 8 too high 12 WP Hide & Security Enhancer 50K+ · 4.3★ (275) wp.org #15 3 too low 13 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 WDesignKit – AI Templates, Widget Builder & MCP Workflow 30K+ · 4.8★ (12) wp.org #11 3 too high 15 Advanced Media Offloader – Offload Media to Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2, DigitalOcean Spaces & More 7K+ · 4.7★ (48) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 AI 60K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #10 6 too high 17 Disable XML-RPC-API 100K+ · 4.2★ (43) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 SpeedyCache – Cache, Optimization, Performance 500K+ · 4.4★ (30) wp.org #14 4 too high 19 Cowboy MCP – Free MCP Server with Undo for Claude & ChatGPT 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #9 10 too high 20 Enable Abilities for MCP 5K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 Open Graph 10K+ · 4.3★ (13) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 WebSub (FKA. PubSubHubbub) 100K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 LWS Tools 10K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 ATmosphere 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 2 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.