Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “static export”

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 “static export”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 5 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

Static Porter shows at wp.org #3 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 100+ 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

Quiz Maker by AYS places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 601 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Simply Static – The Static Site Generator 30K+ · 4.5★ (195) wp.org #1 2 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #5 ↓1 3 too low 3 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #6 ↓1 3 too low 4 Export WordPress Pages to Static HTML & PDF — Static Site Export 4K+ · 3.8★ (51) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.7★ (1071) wp.org #11 ↓1 6 too low 6 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #13 ↓2 7 too low 7 WP Data Access – App Builder for Tables, Forms, Dashboards, Charts & Maps 10K+ · 4.9★ (88) wp.org #12 ↑3 5 too low 8 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too low 9 Quiz Maker by AYS 20K+ · 4.9★ (601) wp.org #18 ↑4 9 too low 10 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #19 ↓3 9 too low 11 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (743) wp.org #16 ↓3 5 too low 12 Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125) wp.org #20 ↓3 8 too low 13 E2Pdf – Export Pdf Tool for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (59) wp.org #8 ↓1 5 too high 14 W WP Photo Album Plus 10K+ · 4.7★ (199) wp.org #14 ↑4 15 Easy Google Maps by Supsystic – Custom Markers, Clustering & Map Themes 20K+ · 4.6★ (251) wp.org #23 ↓3 8 too low 16 Simple Export to Markdown 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #4 12 too high 17 Export All Posts, Products, Orders & Users | WP Ultimate Exporter | WordPress CSV Export 6K+ · 3.2★ (16) wp.org #7 ↓1 10 too high 18 GSheetConnector – WooCommerce Google Sheets Connector, Export Orders & Products to Google Sheets in Real-Time 3K+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #17 ↓3 1 too high 19 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #24 ↓3 5 too low 20 SpeedyCache – Cache, Optimization, Performance 500K+ · 4.4★ (30) wp.org #22 ↓3 2 too low 21 Static Porter 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 18 too high 22 Static Site Exporter 400+ · 3.5★ (12) wp.org #9 ↓1 13 too high 23 WP Taxonomy Manager 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 ↓3 8 too high 24 W Wext Static Publisher 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 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.