wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “send link”

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 “send link”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 7 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

Smart Send shows at wp.org #11 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation places #12 on merit, 4.4★ from 1435 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too low 2

Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #1 ↑1 1 too high 3

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #5 ↓2 2 too low 4

Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #3 ↑2 1 too high 5

Link Whisper Free 30K+ · 4.2★ (150) wp.org #7 2 too low 6

Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87) not PHP-current wp.org #4 2 too high 7

Visual Link Preview 10K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #6 1 too high 8

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 #15 ↓1 7 too low 9

Simple Link Directory – AI Powered 2K+ · 4.8★ (121) wp.org #12 3 too low 10

BetterLinks – Link Shortener, Link Cloaking, Redirects, Affiliate Link Manager & MCP 20K+ · 4.8★ (85) wp.org #13 3 too low 11

Send Users Email – Email Subscribers, Email Marketing Newsletter 5K+ · 4.5★ (28) wp.org #8 3 too high 12

MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) heavy footprint wp.org #20 ↓3 8 too low 13

Link Juice Keeper 10K+ · 4.7★ (15) thin reviews wp.org #9 4 too high 14

FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #23 ↓4 9 too low 15 M MimeTypes Link Icons 8K+ · 5.0★ (26) wp.org #16 1 too low 16

LinkCentral – URL shortener, Affiliate Links & Custom Link Shortener with Link Tracking 400+ · 5.0★ (19) thin reviews wp.org #21 5 too low 17

Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools 8K+ · 4.1★ (15) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #10 7 too high 18

Affiliate Links – Link Cloaking and Management 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) not PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #17 ↑1 1 too high 19

Link in Bio Creator – Social 2K+ · 4.3★ (21) thin reviews wp.org #24 5 too low 20

Smart Send 300+ · 5.0★ (5) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #11 9 too high 21

GT Link Manager 100+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too high 22

Send Emails — Newsletters, Automation & Email Marketing for WordPress 50+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #18 ↑5 4 too high 23

Extend Link 1K+ · 3.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↑1 9 too high 24

Link Invoice Payment for WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (1) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews 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.