Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 requests”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Downloadyar Remote Media shows at wp.org #7 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 30+ 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

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 3221 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. 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★ (5039) wp.org #1 2 WP Remote Users Sync 6K+ · 4.9★ (73) wp.org #2 3 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too low 6 The WP Remote WordPress Plugin 30K+ · 4.6★ (74) wp.org #6 7 HTTP Requests Manager 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 JetBackup – Backup, Restore & Migrate 200K+ · 4.5★ (1056) wp.org #14 ↓1 5 too low 10 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #18 8 too low 11 Unlimited Elements for Elementor 300K+ · 4.8★ (525) wp.org #16 5 too low 12 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 #20 ↑1 8 too low 13 Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #23 10 too low 14 IP Location Block 10K+ · 4.5★ (35) wp.org #17 3 too low 15 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #13 ↑2 2 too high 16 hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Remote Website Management by Watchful 3K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #9 8 too high 18 UpdraftCentral Dashboard 5K+ · 4.5★ (22) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Import CDN-Remote Images 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #11 8 too high 20 Downloadyar Remote Media 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 ↑1 13 too high 21 Captcha by Yandex for Contact Form 7 3K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #15 ↓1 6 too high 22 RS Remote Site Manager 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 12 too high 23 Demo Importer Plus 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too high 24 eRecht24 Legal Texts 50K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 2 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.