Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “reverse”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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 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

Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP shows at wp.org #13 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Simple Custom Post Order places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 588 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce 300K+ · 5.0★ (1865) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1489) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 WP Encryption: Easy HTTPS / SSL & Free SSL certificate, HTTPS redirect 50K+ · 4.9★ (1146) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Block Editor: Reverse Columns on Mobile 700+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #1 4 too high 6 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #7 ↑16 1 too low 7 Masks Form Fields 9K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 WP Accessibility 60K+ · 4.8★ (68) wp.org #9 ↑8 1 too low 9 Geolocation IP Detection 20K+ · 4.7★ (59) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too low 10 WPS Limit Login 100K+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #12 ↓2 2 too low 11 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #17 ↓6 6 too low 12 Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #8 ↑7 4 too high 13 VS Event List 8K+ · 4.9★ (82) wp.org #16 ↓9 3 too low 14 Flexible PDF Invoices for WooCommerce & WordPress 6K+ · 4.4★ (37) wp.org #14 ↓1 15 Extra Product Sorting Options for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.6★ (31) wp.org #15 ↓3 16 Chronological Posts 1K+ · 4.9★ (12) wp.org #11 ↓3 5 too high 17 Image CAPTCHA for Contact Form 7 and WPForms by HookAndHook (DSGVO/GDPR) 70K+ · 4.7★ (49) wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too low 18 Make Tables Responsive 6K+ · 5.0★ (34) wp.org #22 ↓1 4 too low 19 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #13 ↑3 6 too high 20 360 Javascript Viewer 1K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #21 ↓2 1 too low 21 Better Block Editor (BBE) 6K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #18 ↑4 3 too high 22 P Post Order By Category 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #20 ↓2 2 too high 23 EU VAT Guard for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 24 Essential Content Types 20K+ · 3.7★ (3) 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.