Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “stable url”

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 “stable url”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 of the top 20. 4 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

Public Preview URL Manager shows at wp.org #5 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 1267 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Featured Image from URL (FIFU) 60K+ · 4.6★ (264) wp.org #1 2 URL Shortify – Simple and Easy URL Shortener 10K+ · 4.7★ (169) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1872) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too low 5 Popups for Divi 100K+ · 4.8★ (442) wp.org #10 ↑1 5 too low 6 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #11 ↓2 5 too low 7 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #14 ↑3 7 too low 8 Robo Gallery – Photo & Image Slider 40K+ · 4.3★ (406) wp.org #12 ↓2 4 too low 9 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 too high 10 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #20 ↓12 10 too low 11 Blog2Social: Social Media Auto Post & Scheduler 40K+ · 4.5★ (2107) wp.org #19 8 too low 12 Booking for Appointments and Events Calendar – Amelia 90K+ · 4.6★ (793) wp.org #22 ↓1 10 too low 13 Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157) wp.org #13 ↓1 14 Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 C Custom Login URL 1K+ · 3.8★ (18) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 too high 16 Viable URL Media Uploader 90+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #6 ↓1 10 too high 17 Dokan: AI Powered WooCommerce Multivendor Marketplace Solution – Build Your Own Amazon, eBay, Etsy 30K+ · 4.6★ (769) wp.org #23 ↓3 6 too low 18 AI 60K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #9 9 too high 19 Generate Images (AI) – Magic Post Thumbnail 5K+ · 4.3★ (25) wp.org #15 ↓2 4 too high 20 Angie – Agentic AI 100K+ · 3.3★ (20) wp.org #21 ↓3 1 too low 21 Public Preview URL Manager 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 ↓1 16 too high 22 Dynamic ACF Repeater for Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #16 ↓2 6 too high 23 Secure Login URL Hide 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓3 5 too high 24 WooCommerce Shipping 70K+ · 2.0★ (18) wp.org #17 ↓1 7 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.