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

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 post”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 5 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 #12 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 10 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 #11 on merit, 4.4★ from 1435 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #1 2 Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276) wp.org #2 ↑3 3 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too high 5 Post Views Counter 100K+ · 4.9★ (1237) wp.org #6 ↑2 1 too low 6 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too high 8 Post Grid 30K+ · 4.3★ (163) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 Rate My Post – Star Rating Plugin by FeedbackWP 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too high 10 Custom Post Type Permalinks 200K+ · 4.8★ (71) wp.org #10 11 MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) wp.org #15 ↓2 4 too low 12 AnWP Post Grid and Post Carousel Slider for Elementor 20K+ · 4.9★ (84) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 Revive Social – Social Media Auto Post and Scheduling Automation Plugin 20K+ · 4.0★ (556) wp.org #18 ↓1 5 too low 14 Send Users Email – Email Subscribers, Email Marketing Newsletter 5K+ · 4.5★ (28) wp.org #9 5 too high 15 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 Peter's Post Notes – Admin Notes for Posts and Pages 3K+ · 4.9★ (26) wp.org #22 ↓3 6 too low 17 C Custom Post Type Widgets 10K+ · 4.8★ (14) wp.org #16 ↓1 1 too high 18 Noptin – Newsletter, New Post Notifications & Email Automation 10K+ · 4.5★ (120) wp.org #24 ↓3 6 too low 19 Advanced Post Block – Display Your Posts Exactly How You Want 10K+ · 4.2★ (17) wp.org #13 ↑1 6 too high 20 Solid Post Likes 500+ · 4.8★ (9) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too high 21 Menu In Post 2K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #21 ↓3 22 Smart Send 300+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #12 10 too high 23 Social Post Flow – Social Media Automation, Scheduling, Scheduler, Posting & Auto Post 200+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Missed Schedule Post Publisher 6K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 ↓3 1 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.