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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “storage usage”

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 “storage usage”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Storage for Woo via S3-Compatible shows at wp.org #8 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Big File Uploads – Increase Maximum File Upload Size places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 402 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 Disk Usage Sunburst 9K+ · 4.8★ (36) wp.org #1 2 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #2 3 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1338) wp.org #9 ↓1 5 too low 5 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #10 ↑1 5 too low 6 Disk Usage Insights 1K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #7 8 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 Advanced File Manager – Ultimate File Manager for WordPress And Document Library Solution 100K+ · 4.8★ (441) wp.org #13 4 too low 10 Offload Media – Cloud Storage 1K+ · 4.4★ (18) wp.org #4 6 too high 11 Big File Uploads – Increase Maximum File Upload Size 100K+ · 4.9★ (402) wp.org #18 ↓1 7 too low 12 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #11 ↑2 1 too high 13 Meta Box – A Framework for Dynamic Websites 500K+ · 4.8★ (165) wp.org #16 ↓2 3 too low 14 Backuply – Backup, Restore, Migrate and Clone 600K+ · 4.5★ (135) wp.org #14 ↑4 15 Cloud Storage Manager for Fluent Forms – Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, S3 Uploads 400+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #6 9 too high 16 Titan Anti-spam & Security – Brute Force Protection, 2FA & Spam Filter 50K+ · 4.5★ (370) wp.org #20 ↓1 4 too low 17 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 Controls for Contact Form 7 (Redirects, Analytics & Tracking) 10K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 Storage for Woo via S3-Compatible 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 ↑2 11 too high 20 MyServerInfo – Memory Usage, PHP Version, Memory Limit, Execution Time, CPU Usage, Disk Usage 800+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too high 21 Storage for EDD via S3-Compatible 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 Max Upload File Size Manager 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↓4 3 too high 23 Disk Usage Details 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 8 too high 24 Storage for Woo via Dropbox 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↑1 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.