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

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 stats”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 4 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

Trace My IP – Visitor IP Tracker, Stats Analytics & Page Views Counter with Email Alerts shows at wp.org #6 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 21 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 3220 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1012) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 StatCounter – Real Time Visitor Stats, Session Replay & Heatmaps 70K+ · 4.2★ (56) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 WP Visitor Statistics (Real Time Traffic) 20K+ · 4.5★ (156) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) wp.org #4 ↓3 1 too high 6 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Visitor Traffic Real Time Statistics 30K+ · 4.1★ (233) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 SlimStat Analytics – Real-Time Stats, Heatmaps & Ecommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (816) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too low 11 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #21 ↓4 10 too low 12 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 #18 ↓2 6 too low 13 WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (759) wp.org #16 ↑7 3 too low 14 Web-Stat – Live Visitor Analytics 5K+ · 4.4★ (20) wp.org #7 7 too high 15 Trace My IP – Visitor IP Tracker, Stats Analytics & Page Views Counter with Email Alerts 1K+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #6 9 too high 16 Document Embedder – let visitors read files without downloading 9K+ · 4.9★ (120) wp.org #19 3 too low 17 Beehive Analytics – Google Analytics Dashboard 20K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 ExactMetrics – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Plugin) 200K+ · 2.5★ (1546) wp.org #15 ↓2 3 too high 19 Post views Stats 900+ · 3.5★ (15) wp.org #23 ↓5 4 too low 20 ConvertNow Analytics: Website Stats, Visitor Statistics, AI Traffic and Bot Filtering 70+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 WPS Visitor Counter 10K+ · 3.9★ (8) wp.org #12 ↓2 9 too high 22 atec Stats 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↓2 5 too high 23 Jetpack Stats 800+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Weblix Analytics – Real-Time Stats & Visitor Counter 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓3

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.