Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “universal”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Duo Universal shows at wp.org #2 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Simple Custom Post Order places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 587 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1645) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #4 ↑4 2 too low 3 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #5 ↑2 2 too low 4 WP 2FA – Two-factor authentication for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (184) wp.org #7 ↑9 3 too low 5 AddToAny Share Buttons 300K+ · 4.7★ (1114) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Under Construction 600K+ · 4.8★ (1285) wp.org #10 ↓6 4 too low 7 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #11 ↑2 4 too low 8 GA Google Analytics – Connect Google Analytics to WordPress 400K+ · 4.9★ (158) wp.org #8 ↑1 9 Universal Google Analytics (GA3 and GA4) 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #1 ↑1 8 too high 10 Transliterator – Multilingual and Multi-script Text Conversion 3K+ · 4.8★ (96) wp.org #12 ↓2 2 too low 11 Pixel Manager for WooCommerce – Conversion Tracking, Google Ads, GA4, TikTok, Dynamic Remarketing 40K+ · 4.9★ (399) wp.org #20 9 too low 12 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (587) wp.org #22 ↓5 10 too low 13 The Post Grid – Shortcode, Gutenberg Blocks and Elementor Addon for Post Grid 100K+ · 4.8★ (265) wp.org #21 ↑3 8 too low 14 Flexible SSL for CloudFlare 100K+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #16 ↓2 2 too low 15 WPC Product Bundles for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.4★ (220) wp.org #17 ↑1 2 too low 16 Cloudflare 200K+ · 3.5★ (181) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 Invisible Anti-Spam & CAPTCHA — reCAPTCHA Alternative for All Forms 4K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #24 ↓3 7 too low 18 Duo Universal 2K+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #2 ↓1 16 too high 19 Amazon Link Engine 2K+ · 4.4★ (31) wp.org #19 ↑1 20 DesignSetGo 8K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 Universal Honey Pot 1K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #9 ↓4 12 too high 22 VK All in One Expansion Unit 100K+ · 4.0★ (7) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 bSecure – Your Universal Checkout 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↓2 9 too high 24 Microsoft Advertising Universal Event Tracking (UET) 4K+ · 3.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↓2 11 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.