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← Rankings

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

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 “version”, 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 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

PHP Version shows at wp.org #1 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 6K+ 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

WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 2470 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Downgrade | Specific Core Version 100K+ · 4.8★ (169) wp.org #3 ↑1 2 too low 2 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too low 3 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #6 ↓1 3 too low 4 Version Info – Server Health Monitor, PHP & MySQL Version Display, Environment Indicators 10K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 Beaver Builder Page Builder – Drag and Drop Website Builder 100K+ · 4.7★ (394) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 WP Rollback – Rollback Plugins and Themes 200K+ · 4.9★ (215) wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too low 7 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 Pinpoint Booking System – Legacy version 2K+ · 3.6★ (185) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too high 9 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 #16 ↓1 7 too low 10 Meta Generator and Version Info Remover 10K+ · 5.0★ (28) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #24 13 too low 12 Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.7★ (1071) wp.org #23 ↑1 11 too low 13 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #22 ↓2 9 too low 14 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #20 ↑2 6 too low 15 Specific Content For Mobile – Customize the mobile version without redirections 4K+ · 4.8★ (31) wp.org #12 3 too high 16 PHP Version 6K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 15 too high 17 Order Limit for WooCommerce (Free Version) 800+ · 4.2★ (13) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 PlugVersions – Easily roll back to previous versions of your plugins. 1K+ · 4.4★ (8) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 Attribute Stock for WooCommerce – Shared Stock & Variable Quantities (Lite Version) 2K+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #19 20 MySQL version display 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 10 too high 21 WPLifeCycle – Free PHP Version Info & Website Manager 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 10 too high 22 Version Locker: Disable Updates, Rollback and Downgrade 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 9 too high 23 Manage/Remove version number from CSS & JS 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↑1 8 too high 24 WP PHP Version Display 3K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 3 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.