wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “sponsored posts”
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 “sponsored posts”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20.
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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.
Ranked above its merit
Leaving Notice Popup For External Links – nofollow, noopener & New Tab shows at wp.org #13 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
BetterLinks – Link Shortener, Link Cloaking, Redirects, Affiliate Link Manager & MCP places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 85 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262)
wp.org #1 2 
Cyr-To-Lat 300K+ · 4.7★ (98)
wp.org #2 ↑1 3 
External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window 80K+ · 4.3★ (247)
wp.org #4 ↓2 1 too low 4 
Query Monitor 200K+ · 4.9★ (470)
wp.org #7 ↓2 3 too low 5 W WP FullCalendar 8K+ · 4.7★ (96)
wp.org #5 ↑1 6 
Flexible Map 7K+ · 4.8★ (66)
wp.org #9 3 too low 7 
Tablesome Table – Contact Form DB – WPForms, CF7, Gravity, Forminator, Fluent 7K+ · 4.8★ (89)
wp.org #10 ↑3 3 too low 8 T Translation with DeepL API 3K+ · 4.0★ (29)
wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too high 9 BetterLinks – Link Shortener, Link Cloaking, Redirects, Affiliate Link Manager & MCP 20K+ · 4.8★ (85)
wp.org #14 ↑2 5 too low 10 
MWW Disclaimer Buttons 400+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews
wp.org #3 ↑1 7 too high 11 
rtMedia for WordPress, BuddyPress and bbPress 7K+ · 3.7★ (152)
wp.org #11 12 
Term Management Tools 10K+ · 4.9★ (76)
wp.org #17 ↓2 5 too low 13 
Cool FormKit Lite – Advanced Form Builder for Elementor 20K+ · 4.6★ (25)
wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too low 14 
WSMS (formerly WP SMS): SMS and OTP for WordPress and WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.1★ (107)
wp.org #21 ↑1 7 too low 15 
Easy Affiliate Links 6K+ · 4.2★ (34)
wp.org #15 ↓1 16 
Affiliate Link Marker 400+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews
wp.org #8 8 too high 17 
Eway Payment Gateway 800+ · 4.3★ (15) thin reviews
wp.org #12 5 too high 18 
Simple Like Page – Fast & Privacy-Friendly Page Embeds 10K+ · 4.3★ (24) thin reviews
wp.org #18 19 
Greateck Product Catalog Remover for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (18) thin reviews
wp.org #20 1 too low 20 
Auto Affiliate Links 2K+ · 4.1★ (39)
wp.org #24 4 too low 21 
Next Active Directory Integration 2K+ · 4.8★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too low 22 Leaving Notice Popup For External Links – nofollow, noopener & New Tab 200+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #13 ↓3 9 too high 23 
AdFlow – Ad Inserter & Ad Manager: AdSense, Banner Ads & ads.txt 3K+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #19 ↑2 4 too high 24 
Amazing Affiliates – Toolkit for Amazon Associates with Amazon Product Blocks and Amazon PAAPI5 / Creators API integration 500+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #23 ↓4 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.