Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “ttfb”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Vibes shows at wp.org #10 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Freesoul Deactivate Plugins – Disable plugins on individual WordPress pages places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 104 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 OMGF | GDPR/DSGVO Compliant, Faster Google Fonts. Easy. 300K+ · 4.7★ (213) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 WPSpeed – WordPress Speed, Cache & Performance Optimization (Core Web Vitals, PageSpeed 100) 2K+ · 4.9★ (40) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Aruba HiSpeed Cache 100K+ · 3.0★ (10) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Surge 4K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #5 6 UsageDD 1K+ · 4.8★ (19) wp.org #6 7 Freesoul Deactivate Plugins – Disable plugins on individual WordPress pages 8K+ · 4.8★ (104) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 BerqWP – All-In-One Optimization for Core Web Vitals, Cache, CDN, Images, CSS & JavaScript 4K+ · 4.3★ (54) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too low 9 Easy Optimizer – PageSpeed, Cache & Core Web Vitals (Unused CSS, Delay JS, Lazy Load) 1K+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #13 ↓1 4 too low 10 xSpeed Cache: AI-Powered Performance Hub with MCP, Caching & CDN 10K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #17 ↑2 7 too low 11 EasyFonts – Host Google Fonts Locally, Fast & Auto-Optimize, GDPR Compliant 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #8 3 too high 12 VigIA – AI Visibility, Analytics & Control 2K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #19 ↓1 7 too low 13 A2 Optimized WP – Turbocharge and secure your WordPress site 60K+ · 3.1★ (43) wp.org #18 ↓1 5 too low 14 Cache Using Gzip 400+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #7 7 too high 15 Super Preloader for Cloudflare 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 Atomic Edge Security – Firewall, Malware Scan and Login Security 700+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #16 17 Speed Analyzer – Speed Test & Performance Audit 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 8 too high 18 BotBlocker Security – Complete security platform 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #22 ↓2 4 too low 19 Vibes 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 9 too high 20 Rankology SEO and Analytics Tool 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 LinkMesh: Semantic AI Internal Links for SEO 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↑1 2 too low 22 kombat-optimizer 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↑1 2 too high 23 Total CrUX 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 IGIT Related Posts and Post Nudges 100+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #21 ↑1 3 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.