wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “upgrade”
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 “upgrade”, we agree with wp.org 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
WooCommerce PayPal Payments shows at wp.org #12 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 800K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.9★ average from 580 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder places #5 on merit, 4.8★ from 828 reviews, but shows at wp.org #9. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (509) not PHP-current
wp.org #1 2 
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2131)
wp.org #2 3 
All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1717)
wp.org #4 1 too low 4 
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) heavy footprint
wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (828)
wp.org #9 ↓1 4 too low 6 
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14377)
wp.org #10 4 too low 7 
Core Rollback 20K+ · 4.7★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #3 4 too high 8 
Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1483)
wp.org #8 ↓3 9 
Product Feed Manager for WooCommerce – CTX Feed – Support 220+ Shopping, AI & Social Channels 90K+ · 4.6★ (835) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #6 ↑1 3 too high 10 
Admin Columns 100K+ · 4.9★ (1653)
wp.org #13 3 too low 11 
WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2466)
wp.org #14 3 too low 12 
Weight Based Shipping Table Rate for WooCommerce – Flexible Shipping 100K+ · 4.9★ (705)
wp.org #15 3 too low 13 
Duplicate Page 3M+ · 4.8★ (465)
wp.org #11 2 too high 14 
Event Tickets and Registration 90K+ · 3.5★ (234) heavy footprint
wp.org #7 ↑2 7 too high 15 
Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (878)
wp.org #16 ↑2 1 too low 16 
Converter for Media – Optimize images | Convert WebP & AVIF 500K+ · 4.9★ (1099)
wp.org #21 5 too low 17 
Lightbox with PhotoSwipe 20K+ · 4.9★ (115)
wp.org #17 ↑2 18 
WP 2FA – Two-factor authentication for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (177)
wp.org #18 19 
Wicked Folders – Folder Organizer for Pages, Posts, and Custom Post Types 20K+ · 4.9★ (56)
wp.org #19 ↓2 20 
All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5209) not PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #24 ↓2 4 too low 21 
Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4937) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #22 ↑2 1 too low 22 
Wallet for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.7★ (188) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #23 1 too low 23 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (580) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #12 11 too high 24 
IE6 Upgrade Option 10+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #20 4 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.