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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “solid code”

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 “solid code”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 3 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

Solid Performance – Your No-Code Caching, Performance, & Page Speed Solution shows at wp.org #1 but places #12 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 4K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) places #6 on merit, 4.9★ from 8869 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #4 ↑1 3 too low 2 Solid Mail – SMTP email and logging made by SolidWP 60K+ · 4.2★ (52) wp.org #2 3 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #5 ↑3 2 too low 4 Disable Bloat for WordPress & WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (100) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #13 ↑2 7 too low 7 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591) wp.org #12 ↑1 5 too low 8 Solid Testimonials – Testimonial Slider, Video Testimonials & Customer Reviews 1K+ · 4.3★ (35) wp.org #3 5 too high 9 Enable Media Replace 600K+ · 4.4★ (302) wp.org #8 ↓4 1 too high 10 CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin by NiteoThemes 200K+ · 4.7★ (326) wp.org #11 ↑6 1 too low 11 Media Cleaner: Delete Unused Images & Clean Your Media Library 90K+ · 4.6★ (779) wp.org #17 ↓6 6 too low 12 Solid Performance – Your No-Code Caching, Performance, & Page Speed Solution 4K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #1 11 too high 13 BBQ Firewall – Fast & Powerful Firewall Security 100K+ · 4.9★ (160) wp.org #18 ↑1 5 too low 14 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #15 ↓3 16 Announcement & Notification Banner – Bulletin 2K+ · 4.6★ (20) wp.org #6 10 too high 17 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce – Color, Image & Size Swatches 200K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #19 ↓5 2 too low 18 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #16 ↑2 2 too high 19 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #9 10 too high 20 Advanced Custom Fields: Font Awesome Field 90K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #24 ↓1 4 too low 21 Super block slider – Image/video background & content slider 8K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 Font Awesome 400K+ · 3.6★ (61) wp.org #22 23 Header Footer Builder for Elementor 30K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #14 ↑2 9 too high 24 TemplateSpare – 1000+ WordPress Starter Templates & Full Site Migration Tool | 1-Click Import/Export & No-Code Builder 10K+ · 4.3★ (6) 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.