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

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 services”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 4 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

WooCommerce Tax (formerly WooCommerce Shipping & Tax) shows at wp.org #5 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 500K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.1★ average from 106 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 5209 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1012) wp.org #1 2

Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #2 3

TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #3 4

Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #4 5

Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1645) wp.org #7 2 too low 6

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #9 ↑1 3 too low 7

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #10 ↓2 3 too low 8

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) heavy footprint wp.org #8 ↑1 9

Chatway Live Chat – AI Chatbot, Customer Support, FAQ & Helpdesk Customer Service & Chat Buttons 30K+ · 5.0★ (775) wp.org #15 ↑3 6 too low 10

LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #16 ↓2 6 too low 11

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 #20 9 too low 12

WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #12 ↓1 13

Simply Static – The Static Site Generator 30K+ · 4.5★ (195) wp.org #17 4 too low 14

Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #22 8 too low 15

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #18 ↓5 3 too low 16

My Private Site – Make Your Whole Site Private, Force Login & Block Registration Spam 10K+ · 4.5★ (82) not PHP-current wp.org #13 ↑2 3 too high 17

Gutenverse – WordPress Blocks, Page Builder & Site Editor 20K+ · 4.9★ (190) heavy footprint wp.org #23 6 too low 18

MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites 700K+ · 5.0★ (71) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #11 ↑1 7 too high 19

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #24 ↓3 5 too low 20

Starter Sites & Templates by Neve 100K+ · 4.7★ (77) heavy footprint wp.org #19 1 too high 21

WooCommerce Tax (formerly WooCommerce Shipping & Tax) 500K+ · 2.1★ (106) throws errorsnot PHP-current low rating, top placement wp.org #5 16 too high 22

Services Section Block – present your services in clean grids and columns 2K+ · 4.5★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #6 16 too high 23

WP Global Site Tag 7K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↑2 9 too high 24

AI Services 100+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #21 ↑3 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.