wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “user email”
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 “user email”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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
Login as User: See the Site as Any User shows at wp.org #14 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 30K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 41 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
User Switching 200K+ · 4.9★ (238)
wp.org #1 ↑1 2 
MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) heavy footprint
wp.org #2 ↓1 3 
Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445)
wp.org #3 4 
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 #4 5 
User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738)
wp.org #5 ↑2 6 
User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832)
wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too low 7 
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #9 ↓3 2 too low 8 
Email Encoder – Protect Email Addresses and Phone Numbers 90K+ · 4.9★ (94)
wp.org #8 ↑1 9 
Stop User Enumeration 60K+ · 4.9★ (132)
wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too low 10 
Send Users Email – Email Subscribers, Email Marketing Newsletter 5K+ · 4.5★ (28)
wp.org #6 ↓1 4 too high 11 
Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging 90K+ · 4.8★ (292) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #10 1 too high 12 
Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #12 ↓1 13 
Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528)
wp.org #18 ↓1 5 too low 14 
Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups 20K+ · 4.9★ (701)
wp.org #24 10 too low 15 
Email Templates Customizer and Designer for WordPress and WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.6★ (133)
wp.org #16 ↓1 1 too low 16 
User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission 20K+ · 4.1★ (537) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #13 3 too high 17 
WP User Manager – Registration Form, Login Form, User Profile Builder & Member Directory 10K+ · 4.7★ (350) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #15 ↓1 2 too high 18 
FluentCRM – Email Newsletter, Automation, Email Marketing, Email Campaigns, Optins, Leads, and CRM Solution 80K+ · 4.8★ (250)
wp.org #22 4 too low 19 Login as User: See the Site as Any User 30K+ · 4.8★ (41)
wp.org #14 5 too high 20 
Email Address Encoder 100K+ · 4.2★ (160)
wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too high 21 
Email Subscribers & Newsletters by Icegram Express – Email Marketing, Post Notifications & WooCommerce Marekting Automation for WordPress 50K+ · 4.6★ (1170) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #21 ↓2 22 
Email Log 80K+ · 4.2★ (43)
wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too high 23 
Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74)
wp.org #20 3 too high 24 
One User Avatar | User Profile Picture 100K+ · 4.7★ (41)
wp.org #23 ↓3 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.