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

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 time plugin”, 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

Worth The Read shows at wp.org #12 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 27 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820) wp.org #1 2

Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #2 3

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8709) wp.org #3 ↓1 4

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #7 ↑2 3 too low 5

FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #5 ↓1 6

Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (504) wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too low 7

All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #10 ↓4 3 too low 8

WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4229) wp.org #11 3 too low 9

Read Meter – Reading Time & Progress Bar 10K+ · 4.5★ (19) thin reviews wp.org #4 ↓1 6 too high 11

Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (398) wp.org #13 ↑2 2 too low 12

Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #15 ↓3 3 too low 13

WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #20 7 too low 14

GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #16 ↓2 2 too low 15

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #22 7 too low 16

Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167) wp.org #17 1 too low 17

Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #23 ↓4 6 too low 18

GeoDirectory – WP Business Directory Plugin and Classified Listings Directory 10K+ · 4.8★ (716) wp.org #24 6 too low 19

Reading Time WP 20K+ · 4.8★ (20) thin reviews wp.org #9 ↓1 10 too high 20

Visitor Traffic Real Time Statistics 30K+ · 4.1★ (233) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too high 21

WP Date and Time Shortcode 10K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #14 ↓1 7 too high 22

GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #18 ↓2 4 too high 23

Worth The Read 3K+ · 4.3★ (27) wp.org #12 ↓2 11 too high 24

Most And Least Read Posts Widget 900+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #21 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.