wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “todays posts”
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 “todays posts”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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
WooCommerce PayPal Payments shows at wp.org #10 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 800K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.9★ average from 583 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Contextual Related Posts 50K+ · 4.8★ (201)
wp.org #1 2 
Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1526)
wp.org #3 1 too low 3 
Inline Related Posts 100K+ · 4.3★ (77)
wp.org #2 1 too high 4 
Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528)
wp.org #4 5 
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144)
wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 
WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565)
wp.org #9 3 too low 7 
Post Grid 30K+ · 4.3★ (163)
wp.org #8 ↑2 1 too low 8 
Ultimate Post Kit – Elementor Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider & Blog Layout Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (58)
wp.org #7 1 too high 9 
Simply Schedule Appointments 50K+ · 5.0★ (155)
wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too low 10 
Dynamic Month & Year into Posts 8K+ · 5.0★ (18) thin reviews
wp.org #5 ↑1 5 too high 11 
Blog2Social: Social Media Auto Post & Scheduler 40K+ · 4.5★ (2107) not PHP-current
wp.org #13 2 too low 12 
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 #12 ↓4 13 
WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228)
wp.org #21 ↑1 8 too low 14 
Beaver Builder Page Builder – Drag and Drop Website Builder 100K+ · 4.7★ (394)
wp.org #19 5 too low 15 
Post and Page Builder by BoldGrid – Visual Drag and Drop Editor 50K+ · 4.7★ (140)
wp.org #17 2 too low 16 
Converter for Media – Optimize images | Convert WebP & AVIF 500K+ · 4.9★ (1106)
wp.org #23 ↑1 7 too low 17 
Content Views – Post Grid & Filter (Shortcode, Blocks, Elementor Widgets) 100K+ · 4.8★ (333) heavy footprint
wp.org #20 3 too low 18 
Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) not PHP-current
wp.org #24 ↓1 6 too low 19 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #10 ↑1 9 too high 20 
Post Carousel Divi 2K+ · 4.9★ (12) thin reviews
wp.org #16 4 too high 21 
MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites 700K+ · 5.0★ (71) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too low 22 
Years Ago Today 100+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews
wp.org #14 8 too high 23 
Missed Schedule Post Publisher 6K+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #18 5 too high 24 
Date Today Nepali 100+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #15 9 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.