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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “third party”

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 “third party”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

HivePress Authentication shows at wp.org #14 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 1K+ 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

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #1 2 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #2 ↑2 3 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (195) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Header Footer Code Manager 600K+ · 4.9★ (309) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too high 5 PDF Embedder – PDF Viewer & Embed PDF Files for WordPress 300K+ · 4.7★ (529) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3004) wp.org #9 ↑1 3 too low 7 WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1568) wp.org #10 ↓2 3 too low 8 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too low 9 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too low 10 morkva UA Shipping – Nova Poshta, Ukrposhta, Rozetka, Nova Global 1K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #5 5 too high 11 BuddyPress 90K+ · 4.1★ (375) wp.org #11 ↓2 12 Kaya QR Code Generator 10K+ · 4.4★ (38) wp.org #7 ↓1 5 too high 13 Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #8 ↓1 5 too high 14 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 Simple JWT Login – Allows you to use JWT on REST endpoints. 4K+ · 5.0★ (47) wp.org #15 ↑6 16 SAR Friendly SMTP 2K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #16 ↑6 17 Advanced Editor Tools 1M+ · 4.5★ (354) wp.org #22 ↓9 5 too low 18 Italy Cookie Choices (for EU Cookie Law & Cookie Notice) 9K+ · 4.5★ (35) wp.org #17 ↑6 1 too high 19 Safe SVG 1M+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #19 ↓2 20 Simple Like Page – Fast & Privacy-Friendly Page Embeds 10K+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 SRS Simple Hits Counter 8K+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 Google for WooCommerce 800K+ · 2.7★ (268) wp.org #24 ↓4 2 too low 23 HivePress Authentication 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 9 too high 24 Antispam for Elementor Forms 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 6 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.