Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “report error”

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 “report error”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

MainWP Child Reports shows at wp.org #6 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 100K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

LiteSpeed Cache places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 2778 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5210) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Sales Report for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.8★ (12) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring 100K+ · 4.7★ (321) wp.org #5 ↓2 2 too low 4 Plugin Report 1K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8709) wp.org #10 ↓1 5 too low 6 Ninjalytics: Sales Reports & Order Export for WooCommerce and EDD 6K+ · 4.4★ (57) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Redirection 2M+ · 4.4★ (703) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 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 #15 ↓2 7 too low 9 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (398) wp.org #16 ↑4 7 too low 10 Error Log Viewer by BestWebSoft 5K+ · 4.8★ (9) wp.org #4 ↑1 6 too high 11 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #19 ↑5 8 too low 12 301 Redirects & 404 Error Log 30K+ · 4.6★ (28) wp.org #8 4 too high 13 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #21 ↓2 8 too low 14 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) wp.org #20 ↓4 6 too low 15 YaySMTP – WP Mail SMTP with Email Logs, Tracking & Reports 10K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #14 ↓3 1 too high 16 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #22 ↓1 6 too low 17 WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (758) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 Metorik – Reports & Email Automation for WooCommerce 9K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #13 ↑2 5 too high 19 PowerBI Embed Reports 500+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 Sentry for WordPress 10K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #17 3 too high 21 MainWP Child Reports 100K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #6 15 too high 22 WP Client Reports 6K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #12 ↑2 10 too high 23 CMS ADMINS Security Check Report 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 ↑3 14 too high 24 BugSnag Error Monitoring plugin 2K+ · 3.7★ (9) wp.org #24 ↓1

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.