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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “verify 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 “verify email”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 7 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

Easy Age Verify shows at wp.org #5 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Customer Reviews for WooCommerce places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 1539 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 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 #1 2 Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups 20K+ · 4.9★ (701) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Email Subscribers & Newsletters by Icegram Express – Email Marketing, Post Notifications & WooCommerce Marekting Automation for WordPress 50K+ · 4.6★ (1170) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 YayMail – WooCommerce Email Customizer 50K+ · 4.8★ (291) wp.org #9 ↑2 5 too low 5 Easy WP SMTP – WordPress SMTP and Email Logs: Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Outlook, Custom SMTP, and more 500K+ · 4.6★ (709) wp.org #15 ↓1 10 too low 6 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #21 ↓1 15 too low 7 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #23 ↓2 16 too low 8 Kit (formerly ConvertKit) – Email Newsletter, Email Marketing, Membership, Subscribers and Landing Pages 40K+ · 4.8★ (90) wp.org #14 ↓1 6 too low 9 WP Change Email Sender 10K+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too high 10 Marijuana Age Verify 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #4 ↓1 6 too high 11 SMTP2GO for WordPress – Email Made Easy 40K+ · 5.0★ (67) wp.org #22 11 too low 12 Email Tracker 800+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too high 13 Customer Email Verification for WooCommerce 8K+ · 4.8★ (47) wp.org #20 ↓2 7 too low 14 Elastic Email Sender 10K+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #7 ↓1 7 too high 15 Noptin – Newsletter, New Post Notifications & Email Automation 10K+ · 4.5★ (120) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 Easy Age Verify 1K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #5 ↓1 11 too high 17 Reoon Email Verifier 600+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 ↓1 11 too high 18 Customer Email Verification for WooCommerce – OTP Verification, Block Fake Signups 2K+ · 4.2★ (20) wp.org #13 ↓4 5 too high 19 Clearout Email Validator – Real-Time Email Verification on WordPress Forms 500+ · 4.2★ (13) wp.org #10 ↓2 9 too high 20 Send Emails with Mandrill 6K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Email Subscription Popup — Newsletter & GDPR Consent 1K+ · 3.8★ (11) wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too high 22 Email Deliverability – SMTP Replacement, Email API Deliverability & Email Log 200K+ · 2.5★ (17) wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too high 23 Make Disable Admin Email Verification Prompt 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 11 too high 24 Benchmark Email Lite 1K+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #18 ↓1 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.