Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “trends”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 4 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

WooCommerce Analytics shows at wp.org #12 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 20K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 1267 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #2 3 Post Views Counter 100K+ · 4.9★ (1237) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 Metricool – Social media and site statistics 90K+ · 4.4★ (23) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too high 7 Mega Addons For WPBakery Page Builder 20K+ · 4.2★ (57) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #16 8 too low 9 Visitor Traffic Real Time Statistics 30K+ · 4.1★ (233) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #18 ↓6 8 too low 11 YaySMTP – WP Mail SMTP with Email Logs, Tracking & Reports 10K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #8 4 too high 13 Spam Protection | Maspik 30K+ · 4.7★ (87) wp.org #15 ↑2 2 too low 14 Location Weather – WordPress Weather Forecast, Air Quality & Weather Widget 10K+ · 4.5★ (103) wp.org #17 ↑1 3 too low 15 Ninjalytics: Sales Reports & Order Export for WooCommerce and EDD 6K+ · 4.4★ (57) wp.org #13 ↑1 2 too high 16 Search Insights – Privacy-Friendly Search Analytics 3K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #9 7 too high 17 ShareThis Dashboard for Google Analytics 80K+ · 3.6★ (138) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 My Agile Privacy® – CMP, Cookie Consent & Privacy Tools 7K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 QA Assistants – Driven by data 2K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too high 20 Beehive Analytics – Google Analytics Dashboard 20K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #20 21 Hash Elements 5K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 WooCommerce Analytics 20K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #12 ↑1 10 too high 23 WP Global Site Tag 7K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 Mortgage Rates 300+ · 4.0★ (2) 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.