Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “tutorial sites”

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 “tutorial sites”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 5 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

Kadence Central – Site Management, Backups, Security, and Reporting shows at wp.org #12 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 30K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Customer Reviews for WooCommerce places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 1539 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #1 2 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #2 3 Simply Static – The Static Site Generator 30K+ · 4.5★ (195) wp.org #3 4 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too low 6 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #6 ↑1 7 Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too high 10 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #18 8 too low 11 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too high 12 Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too high 13 Twentig Supercharged Block Editor – Blocks, Patterns, Starter Sites, Portfolio 20K+ · 4.9★ (171) wp.org #16 ↓4 3 too low 14 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #20 ↑3 5 too low 16 Product Feed Manager for WooCommerce – CTX Feed – Support 220+ Shopping, AI & Social Channels 90K+ · 4.6★ (838) wp.org #14 ↑1 2 too high 17 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #17 ↑2 18 EmbedPress 100K+ · 4.8★ (307) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #24 ↓8 5 too low 20 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #13 ↑1 7 too high 21 Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #23 ↑1 2 too low 22 Intro Tour Tutorial DeepPresentation 200+ · 4.8★ (24) wp.org #15 ↑2 7 too high 23 Kadence Central – Site Management, Backups, Security, and Reporting 30K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #12 ↑1 11 too high 24 YLabs AI Site Manager with ChatGPT and Claude 5K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 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.