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← Rankings

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

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 “publishers”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Narrative Publisher shows at wp.org #11 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Shortcodes Ultimate – Content Elements places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 5925 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Issues and Series for Newspapers, Magazines, Publishers, Writers 2K+ · 4.5★ (73) wp.org #1 2 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 GN Publisher: Google News Compatible RSS Feeds 20K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too low 5 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #10 ↑5 5 too low 6 Missed Scheduled Posts Publisher by WPBeginner 20K+ · 4.9★ (60) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 Social Preview and Open Graph Tags 50K+ · 4.6★ (122) wp.org #9 ↑2 2 too low 8 Podlove Podcast Publisher 3K+ · 4.3★ (45) wp.org #4 4 too high 9 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #16 7 too low 10 Shortcodes Ultimate – Content Elements 400K+ · 4.9★ (5925) wp.org #22 12 too low 11 MPL-Publisher — Ebook & Audiobook Creator 700+ · 4.9★ (46) wp.org #14 ↓2 3 too low 12 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) wp.org #18 ↓8 6 too low 13 AddToAny Share Buttons 300K+ · 4.7★ (1114) wp.org #21 ↓1 8 too low 14 BeyondWords – AI audio for publishers 800+ · 3.6★ (27) wp.org #8 6 too high 15 Ads.txt Manager 100K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #12 3 too high 16 Missed Schedule Post Publisher 6K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #5 11 too high 17 AF Companion – Starter Sites, Speed Booster & Growth Suite for Professional Publishing 10K+ · 4.9★ (34) wp.org #17 ↓1 18 Website LLMs.txt 50K+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #23 ↓5 5 too low 19 WebSub (FKA. PubSubHubbub) 100K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too low 20 Podlove Web Player 4K+ · 3.7★ (14) wp.org #24 ↓3 4 too low 21 Controlled Draft Publisher 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↑2 8 too high 22 HTML Page Publisher 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 Narrative Publisher 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓2 12 too high 24 Ultima Ads for Publishers 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓2 5 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.