wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “user help”

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

Simple User Avatar shows at wp.org #14 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 20K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.6★ average from 19 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 27820 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

User Switching 200K+ · 4.9★ (238) wp.org #1 2

User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738) wp.org #2 ↑1 3

User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832) wp.org #3 ↑1 4

Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #4 ↑1 5

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #6 ↓4 1 too low 6

Stop User Enumeration 60K+ · 4.9★ (132) wp.org #5 ↑3 1 too high 7

User Menus – Nav Menu Visibility 80K+ · 5.0★ (1281) wp.org #11 ↓5 4 too low 8

WP User Manager – Registration Form, Login Form, User Profile Builder & Member Directory 10K+ · 4.7★ (350) wp.org #9 ↓2 1 too low 9

User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission 20K+ · 4.1★ (537) wp.org #8 ↑5 1 too high 10

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820) wp.org #20 9 too low 12

Smart User Slug Hider 2K+ · 4.9★ (55) wp.org #10 2 too high 13

User Submitted Posts – Enable Users to Submit Posts from the Front End 10K+ · 4.8★ (913) wp.org #21 ↓4 8 too low 14

Open User Map – Interactive Leaflet Maps 10K+ · 5.0★ (70) wp.org #13 ↑2 1 too high 15

New User Approve 20K+ · 4.3★ (131) wp.org #12 3 too high 16

Import and export users and customers 70K+ · 4.7★ (259) wp.org #17 ↓3 1 too low 17

The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #24 ↓2 7 too low 18

ProfilePress – Paid Membership, Online Courses (LMS), Ecommerce, User Registration & Login Form, User Profile & Restrict Content 100K+ · 3.1★ (938) wp.org #16 ↓5 2 too high 19

Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1012) wp.org #19 ↑4 20

ProfileGrid – User Profiles, Groups and Communities 5K+ · 4.6★ (236) wp.org #23 ↓3 3 too low 21

Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74) wp.org #15 ↑9 6 too high 22

Simple User Avatar 20K+ · 4.6★ (19) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↓4 8 too high 23

User Admin Simplifier 10K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #22 ↓3 1 too high 24

Admin Help Docs 600+ · 5.0★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #18 ↓2 6 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.