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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “source”

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 “source”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

Open Source Event Calendar shows at wp.org #10 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Smart Slider 3 places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 1125 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Disabled Source, Disabled Right Click and Content Protection 10K+ · 4.9★ (103) wp.org #1 ↑2 2 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #3 ↓2 1 too low 3 Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1012) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too low 4 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #9 ↓2 5 too low 5 Contact Form 7 10M+ · 4.0★ (2186) wp.org #6 ↑3 1 too low 6 Image Source Control Lite – Show Image Credits and Captions 3K+ · 4.6★ (42) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 Add as Preferred Source on Google 800+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #2 6 too high 9 Seraphinite Post .DOCX Source 800+ · 4.6★ (45) wp.org #7 ↑2 2 too high 10 Loco Translate 1M+ · 4.8★ (453) wp.org #13 ↑2 3 too low 11 Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125) wp.org #17 ↑1 6 too low 12 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #16 ↑2 4 too low 13 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #19 ↓6 6 too low 14 WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (759) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 Data Source for Contact Form 7 300+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #8 ↓2 7 too high 16 Donation Platform for WooCommerce: Fundraising & Donation Management 7K+ · 4.9★ (99) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 All Sources Images – Free Images from Pixabay, Unsplash, Openverse, Pexels & Giphy 400+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #15 ↓2 4 too high 20 Source Medium Tracker for Contact Form 7 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 ↓1 8 too high 21 Open Source Event Calendar 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 11 too high 22 LeadSource – UTM Tracking & Lead Source Attribution for Forms 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 Source Lens – Code Finder 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↓2 9 too high 24 All Embed – Multi-Source Embed Widgets for Elementor 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓5 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.