Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 site”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 3 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 #5 but places #23 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

All-in-One WP Migration and Backup places #12 on merit, 4.5★ from 7676 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. 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 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #7 5 too low 3 Export WordPress Pages to Static HTML & PDF — Static Site Export 4K+ · 3.8★ (51) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Staatic – Static Site Generator for WordPress 3K+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #13 8 too low 6 Restricted Site Access 10K+ · 4.8★ (62) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too low 8 Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.7★ (1071) wp.org #16 8 too low 9 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #15 6 too low 10 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #11 1 too low 11 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #12 1 too low 12 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #22 ↓3 10 too low 13 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #23 ↓3 10 too low 14 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #20 ↑1 6 too low 15 Starter Templates & Sites Pack by ThemeGrill 70K+ · 4.7★ (197) wp.org #17 2 too low 16 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Search Analytics for WP – Site Search Tracking 3K+ · 5.0★ (30) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 Static Site Exporter 400+ · 3.5★ (12) wp.org #6 12 too high 19 WP Remove Query Strings From Static Resources 3K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #10 ↓1 9 too high 20 Nexter Extension – Security, Performance, Code Snippets & Site Toolkit 10K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #19 ↑3 1 too high 21 MAS Static Content 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 17 too high 22 W WP Site Verification tool 1K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #14 8 too high 23 Static Porter 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 18 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.