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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “services provider”

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 “services provider”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20.

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 Provider for OpenRouter shows at wp.org #10 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 400+ 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

Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 4755 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #1 2 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #2 3 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #3 4 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #4 5 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 1 too low 6 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 Translate WordPress – Google Language Translator 100K+ · 4.7★ (620) wp.org #18 10 too low 9 Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 1M+ · 4.9★ (4755) wp.org #22 13 too low 10 Booking for Appointments and Events Calendar – Amelia 90K+ · 4.6★ (793) wp.org #21 11 too low 11 SureMail – SMTP and Email Logs Plugin with Amazon SES, Postmark, and Other Providers 200K+ · 4.7★ (25) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Loco Translate 1M+ · 4.8★ (453) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 SAML IDP (Identity Provider) – Login with Website Users 600+ · 4.8★ (62) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 WP BASE Booking of Appointments, Services and Events 100+ · 4.9★ (34) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 WP OAuth Server (OAuth Authentication) 3K+ · 3.8★ (41) wp.org #12 3 too high 16 VikAppointments Services Booking Calendar 500+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 افزونه پرداخت امن زرین‌پال برای ووکامرس (ZarinPal for WooCommerce) 60K+ · 3.5★ (13) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 AI Provider For DeepSeek 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 11 too high 19 Shibboleth 3K+ · 4.3★ (7) wp.org #17 2 too high 20 Shiptastic for WooCommerce 10K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 AI Services 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 10 too high 22 AI Provider for OpenRouter 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 12 too high 23 Vercel AI Gateway Provider 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 10 too high 24 SimplyBook.me – Booking and reservations calendar 30K+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.