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← Rankings

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

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 “reject”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

SiteGuard WP Plugin shows at wp.org #4 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 600K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 15 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

UsersWP – Front-end login form, User Registration, User Profile & Members Directory plugin for WP places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 183 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Five Star Restaurant Reservations – WordPress Booking Plugin 10K+ · 4.7★ (211) wp.org #1 ↑8 2 GDPR Cookie Compliance – Cookie Banner, Cookie Consent, Cookie Notice for CCPA, EU Cookie Law 300K+ · 4.6★ (205) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 CookieYes – Cookie Banner for Cookie Consent (Easy to setup GDPR/CCPA Compliant Cookie Notice) 1M+ · 4.8★ (3236) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too low 4 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #7 ↓1 3 too low 5 PublishPress Revisions: Duplicate Posts, Submit, Approve and Schedule Content Changes 10K+ · 4.6★ (66) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #10 ↓2 4 too low 7 HireZoot – Job Listings, Career Page & Recruitment Tool 30K+ · 4.8★ (194) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) wp.org #18 ↓4 10 too low 9 Gravity Forms Zero Spam 100K+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too high 10 WPBruiser Security – No CAPTCHA Anti-Spam & Login Protection 10K+ · 4.6★ (213) wp.org #19 9 too low 11 CookieAdmin – Cookie Consent Banner 400K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #2 ↓1 9 too high 12 UsersWP – Front-end login form, User Registration, User Profile & Members Directory plugin for WP 20K+ · 4.7★ (183) wp.org #24 12 too low 13 Order Approval for Woocommerce 1K+ · 4.8★ (23) wp.org #9 ↑1 4 too high 14 WPS Bookings for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.5★ (43) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 WP Approve User 3K+ · 4.2★ (42) wp.org #16 ↑2 1 too low 16 NinjaFirewall (WP Edition) – Advanced Security Plugin and Firewall 100K+ · 4.9★ (220) wp.org #22 ↓1 6 too low 17 PeproDev Receipt Uploader for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #14 ↑1 3 too high 18 SiteGuard WP Plugin 600K+ · 4.3★ (15) wp.org #4 ↓1 14 too high 19 tarteaucitron.io – Cookie Banner & GDPR Consent Management 10K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #13 6 too high 20 YITH Request a Quote for WooCommerce 10K+ · 3.3★ (66) wp.org #21 ↑1 1 too low 21 WebToffee EU Order Withdrawal Button for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22 Booter – Bots & Crawlers Manager 7K+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Flexible Cookies 4K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 Cookiez – GDPR & CCPA Cookie Banner & Consent Manager 50K+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #15 ↑1 9 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.