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

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 updates”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Disable Updates for WordPress Core, Plugins and Themes shows at wp.org #9 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 9K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 2470 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 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 Easy Updates Manager 300K+ · 4.8★ (726) wp.org #3 4 Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #4 5 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #5 6 Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1645) wp.org #10 ↓1 4 too low 7 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #11 ↑3 4 too low 8 Disable All WordPress Updates 20K+ · 4.8★ (69) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #14 ↓3 5 too low 10 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #22 ↓2 11 too low 12 WP Updates Notifier 20K+ · 4.2★ (35) wp.org #8 4 too high 13 Restricted Site Access 10K+ · 4.8★ (62) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 NS Cloner – Site Cloner and Multisite Duplicator 6K+ · 4.7★ (279) wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too low 15 Disable Updates – Updates Manager, Disable Automatic Updates, Disable All Updates 9K+ · 4.5★ (24) wp.org #7 8 too high 16 Simply Static – The Static Site Generator 30K+ · 4.5★ (195) wp.org #24 ↓9 8 too low 17 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #23 ↑1 6 too low 18 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #20 ↓8 2 too low 19 My Private Site – Make Your Whole Site Private, Force Login & Block Registration Spam 10K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #19 ↓1 20 MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites 700K+ · 5.0★ (71) wp.org #17 ↓4 3 too high 21 Disable Updates for WordPress Core, Plugins and Themes 9K+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #9 ↓1 12 too high 22 WP Disables Updates 700+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 Disable Auto Update Emails and Block Updates for Plugins, WP Core, and Themes 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↓3 10 too high 24 WP Global Site Tag 7K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 ↓2 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.