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

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 “sparkpost”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Mailster SparkPost Integration shows at wp.org #5 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 100+ 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

Icegram Engage – Popups, Welcome Bars, Optins, Slide-Ins & Lead Generation for WordPress places #9 on merit, 4.7★ from 370 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #1 2 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 #2 3 Easy WP SMTP – WordPress SMTP and Email Logs: Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Outlook, Custom SMTP, and more 500K+ · 4.6★ (709) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #3 ↑2 1 too high 5 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Email Subscribers & Newsletters by Icegram Express – Email Marketing, Post Notifications & WooCommerce Marekting Automation for WordPress 50K+ · 4.6★ (1170) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 YaySMTP – WP Mail SMTP with Email Logs, Tracking & Reports 10K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too low 8 WPMasterToolKit (WPMTK) – All in one plugin 5K+ · 5.0★ (28) wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too low 9 Icegram Engage – Popups, Welcome Bars, Optins, Slide-Ins & Lead Generation for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (370) wp.org #16 7 too low 10 SureMail – SMTP and Email Logs Plugin with Amazon SES, Postmark, and Other Providers 200K+ · 4.7★ (25) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too low 11 WP Email Template 2K+ · 3.1★ (35) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too high 12 GoSMTP – SMTP for WordPress 500K+ · 4.3★ (10) wp.org #6 6 too high 13 Email Tracker 800+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #17 ↓2 4 too low 14 DoubleScale CRM | All-in-One CRM – Sales, Multi-Channel Marketing, Newsletter, Booking, Helpdesk, Automation, MCP & More 80+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 GD Mail Queue 700+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #21 6 too low 16 Pro Mail SMTP 300+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too high 17 YeeMail — Email Template Builder & Customizer 700+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 ↓1 2 too high 18 Mailster SparkPost Integration 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 ↓1 13 too high 19 SendForce Mail SMTP Relay – SMTP and Email API 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 ↓1 8 too high 21 D Dualsend SMTP Failover — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 SMTP Mailer by ReadyGo – Email Delivery, Automatic Failover, Logs & Test 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Authority Mailer SMTP – WordPress SMTP Plugin with Email Logs 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 Frumbik SMTP — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 1 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.