Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “short posts”

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 “short posts”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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 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

Vachr Short-Term Rental Reservations shows at wp.org #5 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 30+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy places #10 on merit, 5.0★ from 4625 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Duplicate Post 300K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #1 2 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #2 3 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (587) wp.org #3 4 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #8 ↓4 2 too low 7 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8 Related Posts for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (325) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too low 9 Bulk Edit Posts and Products in Spreadsheet 7K+ · 4.8★ (217) wp.org #13 ↓1 4 too low 10 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #23 ↑1 13 too low 11 bbPress 100K+ · 3.9★ (343) wp.org #14 3 too low 12 Blog Designer Pack – Blog, Post Grid, Post Slider, Post Carousel, Category Post, News 30K+ · 4.7★ (79) wp.org #17 5 too low 13 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #18 ↑4 5 too low 14 Dynamic Month & Year into Posts 8K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too high 15 Post Slider and Post Carousel with Post Vertical Scrolling Widget – A Responsive Post Slider 10K+ · 4.7★ (31) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 Vachr Short-Term Rental Reservations 30+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #5 ↑8 11 too high 17 Magical Posts Display – Elementor Advanced Posts widgets 3K+ · 4.4★ (10) wp.org #7 10 too high 18 Mark Posts 1K+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #9 ↓1 9 too high 19 Simple Shortcode for Google Maps 3K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #19 ↓1 20 Most And Least Read Posts Widget 900+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #20 ↓1 21 Blogsqode – Blog Layouts and News Post Design 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too low 22 Auto Post Cleaner 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 kURL – Short URL Manager for YOURLS 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too high 24 Microposts – Microblogging post type 90+ · 5.0★ (2) 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.