Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “stars”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 of the top 20. 9 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

Five Star Business Profile and Schema shows at wp.org #9 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 7K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 52 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Rich Showcase for Google Reviews places #6 on merit, 4.9★ from 1623 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #1 ↑11 2 Stars Testimonials — Responsive Reviews & Star Ratings 1K+ · 4.8★ (65) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #5 ↓2 2 too low 4 Stars Rating 1K+ · 4.7★ (23) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too high 5 Rate My Post – Star Rating Plugin by FeedbackWP 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6 Rich Showcase for Google Reviews 100K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #11 5 too low 7 Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #8 ↓2 1 too low 8 Five Star Restaurant Reservations – WordPress Booking Plugin 10K+ · 4.7★ (211) wp.org #6 ↑9 2 too high 9 kk Star Ratings – Rate Post & Collect User Feedbacks 70K+ · 3.9★ (171) wp.org #7 ↓3 2 too high 10 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #14 ↓4 4 too low 11 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #10 ↓3 1 too high 12 Ultra Addons for Contact Form 7 60K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #12 ↓3 13 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #17 4 too low 14 Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1872) wp.org #13 1 too high 15 Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1526) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #16 ↑4 1 too high 18 Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 Five Star Business Profile and Schema 7K+ · 4.8★ (52) wp.org #9 ↓1 10 too high 20 Five Star Restaurant Menu and Food Ordering 5K+ · 4.6★ (107) wp.org #18 ↓2 2 too high 21 Five Star Restaurant Reviews 400+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #19 ↑2 2 too high 22 Five-Star Ratings Shortcode 500+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 Trustami Badge for Customer Reviews and Google Stars 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↓1 8 too high 24 Review Stars Count For WooCommerce 50+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↓2 4 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.