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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “read confirmation”

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 “read confirmation”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP shows at wp.org #11 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Simple Membership places #9 on merit, 4.6★ from 475 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 wp.org
1 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #1 2 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 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 #3 ↓1 4 PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce 300K+ · 5.0★ (1865) wp.org #4 5 Media Cleaner: Delete Unused Images & Clean Your Media Library 90K+ · 4.6★ (779) wp.org #8 ↓3 3 too low 6 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #6 ↑15 7 Easy WP SMTP – WordPress SMTP and Email Logs: Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Outlook, Custom SMTP, and more 500K+ · 4.6★ (709) wp.org #10 ↑1 3 too low 8 WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments 800K+ · 3.4★ (177) wp.org #5 ↑2 3 too high 9 Simple Membership 40K+ · 4.6★ (475) wp.org #15 ↑4 6 too low 10 Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #16 ↓4 6 too low 11 Pay with Vipps and MobilePay for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.8★ (13) wp.org #7 ↓1 4 too high 12 Campos Checkout Brasileiro para WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #12 ↑3 13 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #24 ↓6 11 too low 14 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #9 ↓1 5 too high 15 Event Booking Manager for WooCommerce – Sell Tickets, Event Registration, RSVP & Event Calendar 7K+ · 4.5★ (167) wp.org #19 ↑1 4 too low 16 WPGraphQL 30K+ · 4.9★ (48) wp.org #18 ↓1 2 too low 17 Event Genius – Event Calendar, Event Registration, and Attendee Management 600+ · 4.8★ (17) wp.org #13 ↓3 4 too high 18 Enable Abilities for MCP 5K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #17 ↓1 1 too high 19 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #11 ↓2 8 too high 20 Secure MCP Server for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and other AI Agents 8K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 Double Opt-In for Contact Form 7 – Secure, GDPR-Compliant Email Verification 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #23 ↑1 2 too low 22 I Izurutoys Confirmation Screen for Contact Form 7 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 Gutenverse Form – Contact Form Builder, Block Form & Booking Form 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too high 24 SimplyBook.me – Booking and reservations calendar 30K+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↑1 3 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.