Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “pushed”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Zapper Payments shows at wp.org #11 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 600+ 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

GAinWP Google Analytics Integration for WP places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 126 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 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #1 2 Sticky Menu & Sticky Header 90K+ · 4.7★ (763) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Make Column Clickable for Elementor 100K+ · 4.9★ (53) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 WP Reset 300K+ · 4.8★ (1014) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 Htaccess File Editor – Safely Edit Htaccess File 40K+ · 5.0★ (102) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #6 ↓2 7 External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window 80K+ · 4.3★ (247) wp.org #7 8 GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO 30K+ · 4.6★ (683) wp.org #12 ↓3 4 too low 9 Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN 70K+ · 4.7★ (1488) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too low 10 GAinWP Google Analytics Integration for WP 7K+ · 4.8★ (126) wp.org #18 8 too low 11 Bulk Product Sync – Bulk Product Editor for WooCommerce with Google Sheets™ 300+ · 4.2★ (27) wp.org #9 ↑2 2 too high 12 Merge + Minify + Refresh 3K+ · 4.2★ (68) wp.org #16 ↑1 4 too low 13 MOBILOOK — Mobile View & Mobile‑Friendly Test 1K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #17 ↑1 4 too low 14 F Filter Admin Published Default 400+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #8 ↑1 6 too high 15 Zoho CRM Lead Magnet 3K+ · 3.1★ (25) wp.org #10 ↑3 5 too high 16 LiveAgent – Omnichannel Help Desk & Live Chat Software 400+ · 4.2★ (32) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 Social LikeBox & Feed 10K+ · 3.3★ (47) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 iZooto – Web Push Notifications 900+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #13 ↑2 5 too high 19 Integrations of Zoho CRM with Elementor form 200+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #15 ↑1 4 too high 20 Writer GPT Publisher 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 Zapper Payments 600+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↑1 10 too high 22 Faire for WooCommerce 800+ · 3.0★ (5) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 IndexMeNow 2K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 C Cosmo Block Edit Mode for ACF 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24

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.