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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “strong”

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 “strong”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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

WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway shows at wp.org #2 but places #9 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 700K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.1★ average from 237 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Strong Testimonials 80K+ · 4.8★ (614) wp.org #1 2 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam 400K+ · 5.0★ (1471) wp.org #5 ↑2 2 too low 4 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1488) wp.org #7 ↓4 1 too low 7 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #10 ↑1 3 too low 8 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #2 7 too high 10 My Calendar – Accessible Event Manager 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #8 2 too high 11 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #11 ↓1 12 Appointment Hour Booking – Booking Calendar 10K+ · 4.9★ (524) wp.org #15 ↑1 3 too low 13 BBQ Firewall – Fast & Powerful Firewall Security 100K+ · 4.9★ (160) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565) wp.org #16 ↓2 2 too low 15 Defender Security – Malware Scanner, Login Security & Firewall 80K+ · 4.8★ (334) wp.org #17 ↑1 2 too low 16 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157) wp.org #13 ↑6 4 too high 18 WP-Members Membership Plugin 50K+ · 4.6★ (272) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 Titan Anti-spam & Security – Brute Force Protection, 2FA & Spam Filter 50K+ · 4.5★ (370) wp.org #18 ↓1 1 too high 20 Simple Membership 40K+ · 4.6★ (475) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 Password Policy Manager 6K+ · 4.4★ (14) wp.org #14 ↓1 7 too high 22 Metricool – Social media and site statistics 90K+ · 4.4★ (22) wp.org #22 23 Civist – Petitions and Fundraising 900+ · 4.6★ (19) wp.org #23 ↓2 24 The Courier Guy Shipping for WooCommerce 4K+ · 3.1★ (23) wp.org #24 ↓2

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.