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

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 “stability”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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 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

Mail Queue shows at wp.org #7 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Booking for Appointments and Events Calendar – Amelia places #10 on merit, 4.6★ from 793 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 Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1338) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1488) wp.org #3 4 Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS 200K+ · 4.7★ (612) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 GenerateBlocks 200K+ · 4.9★ (122) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Internal Link Juicer: SEO Auto Linker for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (537) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN 70K+ · 4.7★ (1488) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 Cyr to Lat Enhanced 80K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 Cookiebot – Cookie Banner & Cookie Consent for GDPR, CCPA & Google Consent Mode 100K+ · 4.4★ (440) wp.org #11 ↓2 2 too low 10 Booking for Appointments and Events Calendar – Amelia 90K+ · 4.6★ (793) wp.org #16 ↑2 6 too low 11 Powered Cache – Caching and Optimization for WordPress – Easily Improve PageSpeed & Web Vitals Score 3K+ · 4.8★ (58) wp.org #9 ↑3 2 too high 12 MultiVendorX – WooCommerce Multivendor Marketplace AI Powered Solutions 2K+ · 4.8★ (432) wp.org #12 ↑2 13 Woody Code Snippets – Insert PHP, CSS, JS, and Header/Footer Scripts 50K+ · 4.5★ (221) wp.org #13 14 Reviews and Rating – Google Reviews 20K+ · 4.9★ (184) wp.org #15 ↓4 1 too low 15 Mail Queue 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #7 8 too high 16 M Chart 3K+ · 4.9★ (28) wp.org #19 ↓3 3 too low 17 Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #18 ↑4 1 too low 18 Post Category Filter (WP Admin) 1K+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #24 ↓1 6 too low 19 Dynamic Front-End Heartbeat Control 1K+ · 4.8★ (12) wp.org #17 ↓2 2 too high 20 All Sources Images – Free Images from Pixabay, Unsplash, Openverse, Pexels & Giphy 400+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #22 ↓3 2 too low 21 AI Featured Image 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 ↑7 7 too high 22 Cloudways Site Manager 40K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 too low 23 AutoPost AI 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓3 3 too high 24 Autoload Optimizer 700+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓1 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.