Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “scores”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 3 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

ProScores – Live Scores shows at wp.org #1 but places #11 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 800+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Quiz Maker by AYS places #4 on merit, 4.9★ from 601 reviews, but shows at wp.org #8. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too low 2 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #3 ↑2 1 too low 3 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #4 ↓2 1 too low 4 Quiz Maker by AYS 20K+ · 4.9★ (601) wp.org #8 ↑5 4 too low 5 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #6 ↓2 1 too low 6 Powered Cache – Caching and Optimization for WordPress – Easily Improve PageSpeed & Web Vitals Score 3K+ · 4.8★ (58) wp.org #5 ↑3 1 too high 7 Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) – Quiz Maker & Survey Maker 40K+ · 4.7★ (1282) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too low 8 WP Performance Score Booster – Optimize Speed, Enable Cache & Page Preload 10K+ · 4.6★ (339) wp.org #9 ↓2 1 too low 9 PixelYourSite – Your smart PIXEL (TAG) & API Manager 400K+ · 4.3★ (281) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too high 10 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 ProScores – Live Scores 800+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #1 10 too high 12 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too high 13 Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS 200K+ · 4.7★ (612) wp.org #15 ↑4 2 too low 14 Imagify Image Optimization: Optimize Images | Compress & Convert to WebP/AVIF 900K+ · 4.3★ (1656) wp.org #13 ↓4 1 too high 15 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #16 ↓1 1 too low 16 WP Encryption: Easy HTTPS / SSL & Free SSL certificate, HTTPS redirect 50K+ · 4.9★ (1146) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #14 ↑10 5 too high 20 Greenshift – animation and page builder blocks 70K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too high 21 LazyLoad Plugin – Lazy Load Images, Videos, and Iframes 100K+ · 4.2★ (139) wp.org #23 ↓1 2 too low 22 ACF Content Analysis for Yoast SEO 100K+ · 4.1★ (35) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 BZScore – Live Score 500+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #18 ↑3 5 too high 24 WP Ultimate Review 60K+ · 3.4★ (17) wp.org #19 ↓2 5 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.