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

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

WP Supra – Maintenance & Support Utilities shows at wp.org #6 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection places #7 on merit, 4.6★ from 3992 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Loginizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1033) wp.org #3 ↓1 2 too low 2 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #4 ↑5 2 too low 3 CiviCRM Admin Utilities 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Admin Menu Editor 300K+ · 4.6★ (312) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Big File Uploads – Increase Maximum File Upload Size 100K+ · 4.9★ (403) wp.org #7 ↓2 2 too low 6 Orbit Fox: Duplicate Page, Menu Icons, SVG Support, Cookie Notice, Custom Fonts & More 100K+ · 4.8★ (317) wp.org #8 ↑3 2 too low 7 Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #15 8 too low 8 WP-Members Membership Plugin 50K+ · 4.6★ (272) wp.org #12 ↑7 4 too low 9 Core Framework 10K+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #10 ↓4 1 too low 10 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #17 7 too low 11 Nepali Date Utilities 1K+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #2 ↑8 9 too high 12 Download Plugin 60K+ · 4.5★ (27) wp.org #9 ↓1 3 too high 13 Block Visibility — Conditional Visibility Control for the Block Editor 40K+ · 4.9★ (108) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 Safelayout Cute Preloader – CSS3 WordPress Preloader 10K+ · 5.0★ (84) wp.org #22 ↑1 8 too low 15 Enable Abilities for MCP 5K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #13 ↑1 2 too high 16 Powerkit – Supercharge your WordPress Site 10K+ · 4.5★ (14) wp.org #11 ↓4 5 too high 17 F FeedWordPress 8K+ · 4.2★ (61) wp.org #19 ↓2 2 too low 18 Arconix Shortcodes 3K+ · 4.6★ (24) wp.org #18 ↓5 19 Filter Gallery 3K+ · 4.6★ (22) wp.org #23 ↓2 4 too low 20 Button Block – Stylish buttons that get more clicks 5K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #21 ↑3 1 too low 21 WP-Yomigana 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 ↓4 5 too high 22 WP Supra – Maintenance & Support Utilities 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 ↓3 16 too high 23 Utility for GeneratePress 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↑2 9 too high 24 URL Image Importer – Import External Images to the Media Library from URL, CSV & XML 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 ↓2

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.