Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “service integration”

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 “service integration”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 2 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

Holded integration shows at wp.org #9 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Translate WordPress with GTranslate places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 4962 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #1 2 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #2 3 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #3 ↑4 4 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 Chatway Live Chat – AI Chatbot, Customer Support, FAQ & Helpdesk Customer Service & Chat Buttons 30K+ · 5.0★ (775) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 Advanced Form Integration — Connect Forms to 300+ Apps 9K+ · 4.8★ (91) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too high 8 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too low 10 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 #13 ↓2 3 too low 11 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too low 12 Active Directory Integration / LDAP Integration 4K+ · 4.9★ (211) wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too low 13 Bit integrations – Form Integration, Webhook, Spreadsheets, CRM, LMS & Email Automation 20K+ · 4.9★ (160) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too low 14 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #23 ↑1 8 too low 16 Next Active Directory Integration 2K+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #8 8 too high 17 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #22 ↓1 5 too low 18 Dynamics 365 Integration 500+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #18 19 AI for Home Services 800+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #10 9 too high 20 Gelato Integration for WooCommerce 5K+ · 3.3★ (12) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 TrustMate.io – WooCommerce integration 3K+ · 4.0★ (10) wp.org #21 ↑1 22 Trusted Shops Easy Integration for WooCommerce 6K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓1 7 too high 23 Tutor LMS BunnyNet Integration 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 ↓1 1 too low 24 Holded integration 2K+ · 2.0★ (3) wp.org #9 15 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.