wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “top 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 “top posts”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

MC4WP: Mailchimp Top Bar – Email Subscribe Notification Bar shows at wp.org #11 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 6K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.6★ average from 31 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 27821 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

WebberZone Top 10 — Popular Posts 10K+ · 4.6★ (102) wp.org #1 2

Duplicate Post 300K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #5 2 too low 4

To Top 60K+ · 4.8★ (54) not PHP-current wp.org #2 ↑1 2 too high 5

WPFront Scroll Top 200K+ · 4.9★ (142) wp.org #4 1 too high 6

Post Views Counter 100K+ · 4.9★ (1237) wp.org #10 ↑7 3 too low 8

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #6 ↑8 2 too high 9

Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 100K+ · 4.8★ (215) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too high 10

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #17 ↓1 7 too low 11

Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #13 ↓3 2 too low 12

Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276) wp.org #9 ↑6 3 too high 13

Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1526) wp.org #20 ↓1 7 too low 14

Delete Duplicate Posts 10K+ · 4.8★ (153) wp.org #16 ↓3 2 too low 15

Category Posts Block 40K+ · 4.5★ (79) wp.org #14 ↓3 2 too high 17

Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #21 ↑2 1 too low 21

MC4WP: Mailchimp Top Bar – Email Subscribe Notification Bar 6K+ · 4.6★ (31) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #11 ↓3 10 too high 22

Posts Table with Search & Sort 3K+ · 4.6★ (19) thin reviews wp.org #22 23

WP Top News — Build a Complete News Portal in WordPress 800+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #18 5 too high 24

Magical Posts Display – Elementor Advanced Posts widgets 3K+ · 4.4★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓3

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.