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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “sendgrid protocol”

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 “sendgrid protocol”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot shows at wp.org #7 but places #12 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Fluent Support – Helpdesk & Customer Support Ticket System places #5 on merit, 4.6★ from 69 reviews, but shows at wp.org #9. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 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 #1 2 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #2 3 Easy WP SMTP – WordPress SMTP and Email Logs: Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Outlook, Custom SMTP, and more 500K+ · 4.6★ (709) wp.org #3 4 Solid Mail – SMTP email and logging made by SolidWP 60K+ · 4.2★ (52) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Fluent Support – Helpdesk & Customer Support Ticket System 10K+ · 4.6★ (69) wp.org #9 ↑2 4 too low 6 Advanced Form Integration — Connect Forms to 300+ Apps 9K+ · 4.8★ (91) wp.org #10 ↓1 4 too low 7 GoSMTP – SMTP for WordPress 500K+ · 4.3★ (10) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 Simple SMTP by Maileroo 800+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 DoubleScale CRM | All-in-One CRM – Sales, Multi-Channel Marketing, Newsletter, Booking, Helpdesk, Automation, MCP & More 80+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 Structure Viewer – AI Context Builder, Code Search & MCP Tools 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 5 too low 11 Mail Baby SMTP 500+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too high 12 AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 5 too high 13 SendGrail SMTP – Secure Email Delivery, Routing & Email Log for Gmail, Outlook, Office 365 & Custom SMTP 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too low 14 Authority Mailer SMTP – WordPress SMTP Plugin with Email Logs 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too high 15 Stars SMTP Mailer 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓3 1 too low 16 Emerge Mail – SMTP, Newsletters & Email Marketing 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↓5 3 too high 17 Solviroa – Email Setup & Deliverability — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓3 2 too low 18 M Mailai Contact Form — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓3 2 too low 19 Frumbik SMTP — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓3 2 too high 20 NovoForms – Advanced Contact Form Builder — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 ApproxIt – Service Estimate Builder — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓2 3 too low 22 StaticForge for Cloudflare Pages 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too high 23 Oumma Contact – Drag & Drop Contact Form Builder — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↓3 1 too high 24 SiteNivo – Modular Site Toolkit — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓2 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.