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

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 page”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

MAS Static Content shows at wp.org #3 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 10K+ 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

Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce places #8 on merit, 4.7★ from 1071 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. 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 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #2 3 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #4 ↑2 1 too low 4 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #10 ↑4 6 too low 5 Simple Page Ordering 100K+ · 4.7★ (131) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #11 ↑1 5 too low 7 Post and Page Builder by BoldGrid – Visual Drag and Drop Editor 50K+ · 4.7★ (140) wp.org #12 ↓2 5 too low 8 Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.7★ (1071) wp.org #21 13 too low 9 Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode Page & Under Construction 10K+ · 4.8★ (317) wp.org #19 ↓2 10 too low 10 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #15 5 too low 11 Export WordPress Pages to Static HTML & PDF — Static Site Export 4K+ · 3.8★ (51) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 too high 12 Otter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder for Gutenberg Editor & FSE 300K+ · 4.7★ (251) wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too low 13 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #17 ↑7 3 too low 15 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #20 ↓1 5 too low 16 Bulk Page Generator and Mass Page Builder – Page Generator 3K+ · 4.6★ (70) wp.org #13 ↓2 3 too high 17 Page Visits Counter – Lite 5K+ · 4.0★ (7) wp.org #6 ↓1 11 too high 18 Staatic – Static Site Generator for WordPress 3K+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #16 ↑4 2 too high 19 WP Remove Query Strings From Static Resources 3K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #9 10 too high 20 MAS Static Content 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 17 too high 21 Page and Post Restriction 1K+ · 4.3★ (16) wp.org #23 ↓7 2 too low 22 Radio Player Page 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 23 Static Porter 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 16 too high 24 HTML Page Publisher 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 6 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.