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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “sender plugin”

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 “sender plugin”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Change Default Email Sender Name shows at wp.org #8 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 90+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Contact Form & SMTP Plugin for WordPress by PirateForms places #10 on merit, 4.7★ from 223 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Sender – Newsletter, SMS and Email Marketing Automation for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.8★ (83) wp.org #1 2 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 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 #6 3 too low 4 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 WP Change Email Sender 10K+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) wp.org #9 ↓1 3 too low 7 Elastic Email Sender 10K+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 Contact Form by BestWebSoft – Advanced WP Contact Form Builder for WordPress 30K+ · 4.0★ (292) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 WPMasterToolKit (WPMTK) – All in one plugin 5K+ · 5.0★ (28) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 Contact Form & SMTP Plugin for WordPress by PirateForms 30K+ · 4.7★ (223) wp.org #24 14 too low 11 Stop WP Emails Going to Spam 10K+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #18 ↓2 7 too low 12 morkva UA Shipping – Nova Poshta, Ukrposhta, Rozetka, Nova Global 1K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 Change Mail Sender 20K+ · 4.4★ (18) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 SureMail – SMTP and Email Logs Plugin with Amazon SES, Postmark, and Other Providers 200K+ · 4.7★ (25) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too low 15 Change Sender Email – From Name and From Address 500+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #7 8 too high 16 Sender by BestWebSoft 70+ · 4.1★ (9) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 BulkGate SMS Plugin for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.1★ (12) wp.org #17 18 Hostinger Reach – AI-Powered Email Marketing for WordPress 1M+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too high 19 Change Default Email Sender Name 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↑1 11 too high 20 Contact Form Plugin 2K+ · 2.8★ (17) wp.org #20 21 Official CleverReach® Plugin for WooCommerce 400+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #21 ↓2 22 Email Deliverability – SMTP Replacement, Email API Deliverability & Email Log 200K+ · 2.5★ (17) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Custom Email Sender 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too high 24 SMS Gateway Center – Bulk SMS Sender 10+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.