wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “switch back”

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 “switch back”, 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

WP User Switch shows at wp.org #4 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.1★ average from 9 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Duplicate Post places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 1623 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Back In Stock Notifier for WooCommerce | WooCommerce Waitlist Pro 20K+ · 4.7★ (122) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #1 2

User Switching 200K+ · 4.9★ (238) wp.org #2 3

All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #3 4

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 #5 1 too low 5

Black Studio TinyMCE Widget 200K+ · 4.8★ (191) wp.org #7 2 too low 6

BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) not PHP-current wp.org #6 7

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #13 6 too low 8

Advanced Editor Tools 1M+ · 4.5★ (354) wp.org #8 ↑1 9

Meow Gallery 10K+ · 4.9★ (203) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too low 10

Duplicate Post 300K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #17 ↓6 7 too low 11

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #10 ↑7 1 too high 12

WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312) wp.org #15 ↑8 3 too low 13

Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #19 ↓3 5 too low 15

Cart Abandonment Recovery for WooCommerce – Recover Lost Sales with Automated Emails 300K+ · 4.8★ (625) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #12 ↑1 3 too high 16

WP User Switch 1K+ · 4.1★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #4 12 too high 17

WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (195) wp.org #22 ↓4 5 too low 18

Post Type Switcher 200K+ · 4.8★ (255) wp.org #21 ↓2 3 too low 19

View Admin As 9K+ · 4.9★ (49) wp.org #14 ↓2 5 too high 20

Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) not PHP-current wp.org #16 ↓8 4 too high 21

hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #18 ↓3 3 too high 22

CrawlWP SEO – Complete WordPress SEO Plugin with AI, Indexing & Search Performance 30K+ · 4.7★ (62) not PHP-current wp.org #20 2 too high 23

Hide Admin Bar Based on User Roles – Disable the WordPress Toolbar by Role or Capability 20K+ · 3.9★ (20) thin reviews wp.org #23 ↓2 24

The Off Switch (formerly WP Avoid Slow) 200+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #24

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.