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

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 “queue”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 4 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

Forward: Queue Posts shows at wp.org #9 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring places #8 on merit, 4.7★ from 321 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 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 #2 1 too low 2 Mail Queue 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #5 ↑4 2 too low 4 Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Social Media Auto Poster – Schedule & Publish to Buffer 7K+ · 4.5★ (125) wp.org #8 ↓4 3 too low 6 A Action Scheduler 20K+ · 3.5★ (13) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 Proxy Cache Purge 50K+ · 4.4★ (26) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring 100K+ · 4.7★ (321) wp.org #19 ↑2 11 too low 9 Easy WP SMTP – WordPress SMTP and Email Logs: Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Outlook, Custom SMTP, and more 500K+ · 4.6★ (709) wp.org #20 ↑2 11 too low 10 Flying Pages: Preload Pages for Faster Navigation & Improved User Experience 20K+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #16 ↓1 6 too low 11 ActiveLayer Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for Forms & Comments 10K+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #7 ↑5 4 too high 12 PublishPress Revisions: Duplicate Posts, Submit, Approve and Schedule Content Changes 10K+ · 4.6★ (66) wp.org #15 ↑4 3 too low 13 ShopMagic – email automation for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (78) wp.org #17 ↓4 4 too low 14 Front End PM 4K+ · 4.8★ (220) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 Back In Stock Notifier for WooCommerce | WooCommerce Waitlist Pro 20K+ · 4.7★ (122) wp.org #14 ↓3 1 too high 16 Send Users Email – Email Subscribers, Email Marketing Newsletter 5K+ · 4.5★ (28) wp.org #12 ↓2 4 too high 17 A AJAX Thumbnail Rebuild 30K+ · 4.8★ (90) wp.org #22 ↓6 5 too low 18 WP Offload SES Lite 10K+ · 4.3★ (36) wp.org #18 19 GD Mail Queue 700+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #10 ↓4 9 too high 20 Social Engine 600+ · 4.8★ (30) wp.org #24 ↓1 4 too low 21 Zero Spam for WordPress 20K+ · 4.1★ (143) wp.org #21 22 Meta for WooCommerce 400K+ · 2.1★ (481) wp.org #13 ↓6 9 too high 23 365i Queue Optimizer 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↑3 12 too high 24 Forward: Queue Posts 10+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #9 15 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.