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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “remote dashboard”

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 “remote dashboard”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 2 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

RS Remote Site Manager shows at wp.org #11 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 60+ 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

WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – The Most Popular SMTP and Email Log Plugin places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 5202 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5018) wp.org #1 2 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8666) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2775) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1556) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 UpdraftCentral Dashboard 5K+ · 4.5★ (22) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2466) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 WP Data Access – App Builder for Tables, Forms, Charts, Maps & Dashboards 10K+ · 4.9★ (88) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too high 8 Featured Image from URL (FIFU) 60K+ · 4.6★ (264) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4124) wp.org #13 ↑1 4 too low 10 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1717) wp.org #18 ↓1 8 too low 11 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – The Most Popular SMTP and Email Log Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (5202) wp.org #22 ↑1 11 too low 12 MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites 700K+ · 5.0★ (70) wp.org #7 5 too high 13 Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (373) wp.org #23 ↑1 10 too low 14 iControlWP 1K+ · 4.8★ (63) wp.org #16 ↑2 2 too low 15 WP Umbrella: Security Backup Restore & Monitoring 80K+ · 4.8★ (79) wp.org #19 ↓3 4 too low 16 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 10K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too high 17 Sucuri Security – Auditing, Malware Scanner and Security Hardening 600K+ · 4.2★ (384) wp.org #21 ↑1 4 too low 18 Remote Website Management by Watchful 3K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #10 8 too high 19 UiPress lite | Effortless custom dashboards, admin themes and pages 6K+ · 4.1★ (21) wp.org #17 ↑2 2 too high 20 Kadence Central – Site Management, Backups, Security, and Reporting 30K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Downloadyar Remote Media 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 6 too high 22 RS Remote Site Manager 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 11 too high 23 WP Remote Site Search 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 11 too high 24 Remote Dashboard Widget 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 4 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.