wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “url long”
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 “url long”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20.
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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.
Ranked above its merit
URL Image Importer – Import External Images to the Media Library from URL, CSV & XML shows at wp.org #3 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 1K+ 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
WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 5209 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
URL Shortify – Simple and Easy URL Shortener 10K+ · 4.7★ (169)
wp.org #1 2 
PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322)
wp.org #2 3 
Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040)
wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too low 4 
Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667)
wp.org #6 2 too low 5 
Go Live Update Urls 90K+ · 4.5★ (59)
wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6 
Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187)
wp.org #7 1 too low 7 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 #13 ↓4 6 too low 8 
Classic Editor 8M+ · 4.9★ (1251)
wp.org #11 ↑1 3 too low 9 
Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (808)
wp.org #12 ↑1 3 too low 10 
Comments – wpDiscuz 60K+ · 4.7★ (581)
wp.org #14 ↓6 4 too low 11 
Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132)
wp.org #15 4 too low 12 
LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778)
wp.org #16 ↓2 4 too low 13 
SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1268)
wp.org #20 ↑3 7 too low 14 
Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (743)
wp.org #17 3 too low 15 
Cookie Compliance for WordPress – Cookie Consent, GDPR & CCPA 800K+ · 4.8★ (3026)
wp.org #22 7 too low 16 
All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720)
wp.org #19 ↓3 3 too low 17 
WPFront Scroll Top 200K+ · 4.9★ (142)
wp.org #21 ↓1 4 too low 18 
Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551)
wp.org #23 ↓6 5 too low 19 
WP Accessibility 60K+ · 4.8★ (68)
wp.org #18 1 too high 20 
Lasso Lite – Affiliate Link Manager, URL Shortener & Link Tracking 4K+ · 3.1★ (47)
wp.org #10 10 too high 21 URL Image Importer – Import External Images to the Media Library from URL, CSV & XML 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #3 18 too high 22 
Viable URL Media Uploader 90+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews
wp.org #8 ↓2 14 too high 23 
Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87)
wp.org #24 ↓5 1 too low 24 
kURL – Short URL Manager for YOURLS 40+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #9 ↑2 15 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.