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

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 html”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 2 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 #4 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 19 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

Max Mega Menu places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 882 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. 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 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #7 ↓2 4 too low 4 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #12 ↑1 7 too low 6 Export WordPress Pages to Static HTML & PDF — Static Site Export 4K+ · 3.8★ (51) wp.org #3 ↓1 3 too high 7 Cache Enabler 100K+ · 4.3★ (139) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too low 8 Clearfy Cache – WordPress optimization plugin, Minify HTML, CSS & JS, Defer 40K+ · 4.7★ (339) wp.org #13 ↓2 5 too low 9 Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.7★ (1071) wp.org #21 ↑1 12 too low 10 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #23 ↓3 13 too low 11 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #24 ↓7 13 too low 12 Simple Sitemap – Responsive HTML Sitemap for WordPress 60K+ · 3.9★ (72) wp.org #14 ↓2 2 too low 13 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #22 9 too low 14 Cloudflare 200K+ · 3.5★ (181) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too low 15 WPSpeed – WordPress Speed, Cache & Performance Optimization (Core Web Vitals, PageSpeed 100) 2K+ · 4.9★ (40) wp.org #18 ↓4 3 too low 16 Staatic – Static Site Generator for WordPress 3K+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too high 17 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #17 ↓1 18 WP Remove Query Strings From Static Resources 3K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #10 ↓1 8 too high 19 Surge 4K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too low 20 HTML Page Publisher 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 ↑15 14 too high 21 AI to Elementor — HTML Importer for Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 ↓1 13 too high 22 Fixed HTML Toolbar 40+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #19 ↓1 3 too high 23 Static Porter 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 ↑2 19 too high 24 .html for all url 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 9 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.