Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “visitor”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

WPS Visitor Counter shows at wp.org #5 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.9★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 3220 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #1 2 Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1012) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #7 ↓3 4 too low 4 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #10 6 too low 5 Visitor Traffic Real Time Statistics 30K+ · 4.1★ (233) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #17 ↓5 10 too low 8 Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167) wp.org #13 ↑5 5 too low 9 WP Visitor Statistics (Real Time Traffic) 20K+ · 4.5★ (156) wp.org #12 ↑1 3 too low 10 StatCounter – Real Time Visitor Stats, Session Replay & Heatmaps 70K+ · 4.2★ (56) wp.org #8 2 too high 11 Counter live visitors for WooCommerce 4K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #2 9 too high 12 WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (759) wp.org #21 9 too low 13 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #22 9 too low 14 PDF Poster – Let visitors read PDF’s without leaving the page 20K+ · 4.5★ (149) wp.org #19 ↓3 5 too low 15 Document Embedder – let visitors read files without downloading 9K+ · 4.9★ (120) wp.org #16 ↑3 1 too low 16 Web-Stat – Live Visitor Analytics 5K+ · 4.4★ (20) wp.org #11 5 too high 17 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3156) wp.org #23 ↓6 6 too low 18 Albacross – B2B Website Visitor Identification 1K+ · 4.8★ (24) wp.org #18 ↑2 19 Visitor Count by MrStar 400+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #4 ↑2 15 too high 20 Trace My IP – Visitor IP Tracker, Stats Analytics & Page Views Counter with Email Alerts 1K+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 WPS Visitor Counter 10K+ · 3.9★ (8) wp.org #5 16 too high 22 TWIPLA – Website Intelligence 800+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #20 ↑1 2 too high 23 S Show Visitor IP 300+ · 3.6★ (5) wp.org #15 8 too high 24 Outfunnel: Web Visitor Tracking & CRM Integration 600+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.