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← Rankings

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

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 “published”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Hostinger Tools shows at wp.org #6 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 3M+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.5★ average from 40 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 3220 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Public Post Preview 100K+ · 4.6★ (79) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 F Filter Admin Published Default 400+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #9 ↓1 3 too low 7 Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276) wp.org #7 ↑7 8 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #13 ↑5 5 too low 9 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #18 ↓1 9 too low 10 Customize WordPress Emails and Alerts – Better Notifications for WP 30K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #15 ↓4 5 too low 11 PublishPress Revisions: Duplicate Posts, Submit, Approve and Schedule Content Changes 10K+ · 4.6★ (66) wp.org #12 ↑1 1 too low 12 Nginx Helper 200K+ · 4.4★ (31) wp.org #8 ↑1 4 too high 13 PublishPress Planner – Editorial Calendar, Marketing Content, Kanban Board 6K+ · 4.9★ (178) wp.org #17 ↑4 4 too low 14 Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74) wp.org #11 ↑1 3 too high 15 WP2Social Auto Publish 9K+ · 4.8★ (640) wp.org #22 ↓2 7 too low 16 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #10 6 too high 17 Custom Post Type Permalinks 200K+ · 4.8★ (71) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 WP LinkedIn Auto Publish 8K+ · 4.8★ (106) wp.org #14 ↑9 5 too high 20 Backuply – Backup, Restore, Migrate and Clone 600K+ · 4.5★ (135) wp.org #21 1 too low 21 Hostinger Tools 3M+ · 3.5★ (40) wp.org #6 ↑1 15 too high 22 Co-Authors, Multiple Authors and Guest Authors in an Author Box with PublishPress Authors 20K+ · 4.9★ (114) wp.org #20 ↓5 2 too high 23 Noptin – Newsletter, New Post Notifications & Email Automation 10K+ · 4.5★ (120) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 Hide/Remove Metadata 20K+ · 3.6★ (14) wp.org #23 ↑1 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.