Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “receive”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 3 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

Receive customer payments on Woocommerce shows at wp.org #3 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 1K+ 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

Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 1645 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #1 2 Popup Builder – Create highly converting, mobile friendly marketing popups. 200K+ · 4.7★ (2215) wp.org #2 3 bbPress 100K+ · 3.9★ (343) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1872) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Converter for Media – Optimize images | Convert WebP & AVIF 500K+ · 4.9★ (1106) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #8 ↑5 2 too low 7 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #10 ↑1 3 too low 8 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #11 ↓3 2 too low 10 Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1645) wp.org #14 ↑1 4 too low 11 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #12 1 too low 12 Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1338) wp.org #15 ↑3 3 too low 13 Chatway Live Chat – AI Chatbot, Customer Support, FAQ & Helpdesk Customer Service & Chat Buttons 30K+ · 5.0★ (775) wp.org #20 ↑1 7 too low 14 Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #17 ↓3 3 too low 15 WP Mail Logging 300K+ · 4.7★ (375) wp.org #16 ↑1 1 too low 16 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 #23 7 too low 17 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #18 ↑1 1 too low 18 Two Factor 100K+ · 4.7★ (209) wp.org #19 ↑1 1 too low 19 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Webmention 900+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Receive customer payments on Woocommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 ↑3 18 too high 22 Direct Payments WP – Receive Payments with Forms 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 ↑4 16 too high 23 Checkout with Zelle on Woocommerce 3K+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #21 ↑3 2 too high 24 Ko-fi Button 5K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↑3 11 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.