wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “rate website”

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 “rate website”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 6 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

Shipping Rate By Cities shows at wp.org #9 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 600+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 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 #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Rate My Post – Star Rating Plugin by FeedbackWP 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #1 2

Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 1M+ · 4.9★ (4755) wp.org #3 1 too low 3

MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #2 1 too high 4

Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS 200K+ · 4.7★ (612) wp.org #4 5

Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1668) wp.org #7 ↑9 2 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 #10 4 too low 7

Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #11 ↓2 4 too low 8

Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.7★ (1071) wp.org #13 ↓2 5 too low 9

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #15 ↓9 6 too low 10

kk Star Ratings – Rate Post & Collect User Feedbacks 70K+ · 3.9★ (171) wp.org #8 2 too high 11

Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) not PHP-current wp.org #12 1 too low 12

Flat Rate Shipping Method for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.2★ (76) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #5 7 too high 13

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) heavy footprint wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too low 14

Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #16 ↑6 2 too low 15

WowShipping – Table Rate & Weight Based Shipping 700+ · 5.0★ (25) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #6 9 too high 16

10Web Booster – Website speed optimization, Cache & Page Speed optimizer 60K+ · 4.6★ (405) wp.org #23 7 too low 17

Shipping Live Rates and Access Points for UPS for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.7★ (77) wp.org #18 ↓4 1 too low 18

Advanced Shipping Rates for WooCommerce: Flexible Table Rate Shipping Rules 2K+ · 4.9★ (49) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too low 19

Shipping Rate By Cities 600+ · 5.0★ (4) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #9 ↓2 10 too high 20

Exchange Rates 800+ · 4.2★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too low 21

Live Rates for ShipStation 400+ · 5.0★ (6) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #24 3 too low 22

Exchange Rates Widget 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↓2 3 too high 23

Shipped – Table Rate Shipping Method | for WooCommerce 300+ · 4.0★ (4) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #17 ↓4 6 too high 24

Distance Rate Shipping For WooCommerce 300+ · 3.3★ (8) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #22 ↓1 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.