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

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 “technology”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Reoon Email Verifier shows at wp.org #11 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 600+ 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

Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 701 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Contact Form 7 10M+ · 4.0★ (2186) wp.org #1 2

LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #2 3

TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #3 4

My Calendar – Accessible Event Manager 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #4 5

MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) wp.org #5 6

WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #6 ↑2 7

MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) wp.org #8 ↑2 1 too low 8

Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #9 ↓2 1 too low 9

Backuply – Backup, Restore, Migrate and Clone 600K+ · 4.5★ (135) wp.org #7 ↑8 2 too high 10

Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups 20K+ · 4.9★ (701) wp.org #15 ↑8 5 too low 11

DearFlip – PDF Flipbook, 3D Flipbook, PDF embed, PDF viewer 200K+ · 4.9★ (194) wp.org #13 ↓7 2 too low 12

Advanced Product Fields (Product Addons) for WooCommerce 50K+ · 4.8★ (284) wp.org #17 ↑2 5 too low 13

Koko Analytics – Privacy-Friendly WordPress Analytics 70K+ · 5.0★ (245) wp.org #18 ↑2 5 too low 14

Popup Builder & Popup Maker for WordPress – OptinMonster Email Marketing and Lead Generation 1M+ · 4.3★ (821) wp.org #14 ↓1 15

HUSKY – Products Filter for WooCommerce Professional. MCP is onboard 80K+ · 4.6★ (337) wp.org #22 ↓6 7 too low 16

YOP Poll 10K+ · 4.4★ (452) wp.org #24 ↓10 8 too low 17

Secure Passkeys 2K+ · 4.8★ (19) thin reviews wp.org #10 ↓1 7 too high 18

Jetpack VaultPress 10K+ · 3.8★ (72) wp.org #19 ↓1 20

MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #20 ↑2 21

Meta pixel for WordPress 400K+ · 2.7★ (164) wp.org #12 ↓1 9 too high 22

Ezoic 10K+ · 3.3★ (53) wp.org #21 1 too high 23

Nelio Popups 400+ · 5.0★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #23 ↑1 24

Reoon Email Verifier 600+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #11 ↑1 13 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.