Plugin Pulse
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “site health”

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 “site health”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

icomm site health shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 20+ 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

WP ULike – Like Buttons, Voting & Engagement Analytics places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 282 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 Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1009) wp.org #1 2 Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1640) wp.org #6 ↓3 4 too low 3 WP Umbrella: Security Backup Restore & Monitoring 80K+ · 4.8★ (79) wp.org #4 ↑2 1 too low 4 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7507) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 WPVulnerability 10K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #3 ↑2 2 too high 6 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27819) wp.org #16 ↓1 10 too low 7 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2131) wp.org #15 ↓1 8 too low 8 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 600K+ · 4.8★ (406) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too low 9 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8865) wp.org #19 ↓3 10 too low 10 Performance Lab 100K+ · 4.3★ (51) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too high 11 WP Server Health Stats 9K+ · 4.8★ (110) wp.org #14 ↓1 3 too low 12 WP ULike – Like Buttons, Voting & Engagement Analytics 60K+ · 4.8★ (282) wp.org #23 11 too low 13 S Site Health Tools 400+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #2 11 too high 14 Disable Comments – Remove Comments & Stop Spam [Multi-Site Support] 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 Version Info – Server Health Monitor, PHP & MySQL Version Display, Environment Indicators 10K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too high 16 phpinfo() WP – Site Health, PHP Compatibility & Server Audit 3K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #5 ↓1 11 too high 17 MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites 700K+ · 5.0★ (70) wp.org #10 ↓1 7 too high 18 Plugin Detective – Troubleshooting Conflicts 5K+ · 4.0★ (49) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too low 19 Protect Uploads 30K+ · 4.8★ (12) wp.org #22 ↓2 3 too low 20 DiveWP – Boost Site Performance with Clear, Actionable Steps 200+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #17 3 too high 21 Disable WP Notification 10K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #24 ↓2 3 too low 22 icomm site health 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 14 too high 23 Neurax Site Health Analyzer 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 11 too high 24 Manage – Centralized site maintenance and monitoring 100K+ · 2.0★ (1) wp.org #21 3 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.