Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “recent drafts”

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 “recent drafts”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

Controlled Draft Publisher shows at wp.org #4 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode places #6 on merit, 4.9★ from 4699 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 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #1 2 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #2 3 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #14 8 too low 7 Share a Draft 3K+ · 3.7★ (11) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 too high 8 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too low 9 SiteOrigin Widgets Bundle 400K+ · 4.9★ (134) wp.org #13 4 too low 10 AI Puffer – AI Chatbot & MCP Server for Claude and ChatGPT 10K+ · 4.6★ (166) wp.org #17 ↓5 7 too low 11 PublishPress Planner – Editorial Calendar, Marketing Content, Kanban Board 6K+ · 4.9★ (178) wp.org #18 ↓3 7 too low 12 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #6 6 too high 13 Simple Blog Stats 4K+ · 4.9★ (38) wp.org #15 ↓5 2 too low 14 Duplicate PP 10K+ · 4.4★ (19) wp.org #11 3 too high 15 Kubio AI Page Builder 80K+ · 4.4★ (79) wp.org #21 ↓2 6 too low 16 Controlled Draft Publisher 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 12 too high 17 Fast Page & Post Duplicator 50K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #20 ↓3 3 too low 18 Duplicate and Auto Draft Cleaner 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 ↓1 10 too high 19 VK Link Target Controller 30K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 ↓5 3 too high 20 DesignSetGo 8K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 ↓3 3 too low 21 Superb Recent Posts With Thumbnail Images 6K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓4 9 too high 22 Init Recent Comments – Templated, Modern, Minimal 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓3 3 too high 23 TNT AI Writer – AI Content Generator, Trending Topic Finder & SEO Draft Writer 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 Feed Importer for Blogger 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.