wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “ui fix”

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 “ui fix”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

Fix Category Count shows at wp.org #2 but places #10 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.6★ average from 9 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More places #3 on merit, 4.8★ from 5209 reviews, but shows at wp.org #7. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #1 2

Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #4 2 too low 3

WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #7 ↓1 4 too low 4

Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #6 ↓3 2 too low 5

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) heavy footprint wp.org #5 ↑7 6

Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #3 ↑2 3 too high 7

All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too low 8

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #10 2 too low 9

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #11 ↑2 2 too low 10

Fix Category Count 100+ · 4.6★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #2 8 too high 11

PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #12 ↓4 1 too low 12

Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #9 ↑2 3 too high 13

Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.7★ (1071) wp.org #14 ↓5 1 too low 14

Media Cleaner: Delete Unused Images & Clean Your Media Library 90K+ · 4.6★ (779) wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too low 15

PixelYourSite – Your smart PIXEL (TAG) & API Manager 400K+ · 4.3★ (281) wp.org #13 ↑7 2 too high 16

WP Job Manager 70K+ · 4.4★ (237) wp.org #15 ↓1 1 too high 17

Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (587) wp.org #19 ↑3 2 too low 18

Redirection 2M+ · 4.4★ (703) wp.org #17 ↓2 1 too high 19

WP Accessibility 60K+ · 4.8★ (68) wp.org #21 2 too low 20

Meta Box – A Framework for Dynamic Websites 500K+ · 4.8★ (165) wp.org #24 ↓5 4 too low 21

Grids: Layout builder for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (21) thin reviews wp.org #16 5 too high 22

Atarim – AI Agency for WordPress: Edit Pages, Fix Code, Update Plugins, SEO & Client Feedback 1K+ · 4.9★ (126) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #22 ↑1 23

Conflict Finder 100+ · 4.5★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↑1 3 too high 24

Dead Link Checker – SEO and 404 error Fix 80+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #23 1 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.