wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wait list”
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 “wait list”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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
YITH WooCommerce Waitlist shows at wp.org #6 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.2★ average from 26 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 701 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
WPC Smart Wishlist for WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (34)
wp.org #1 2 
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820)
wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too low 3 
W4 Post List 3K+ · 4.7★ (94)
wp.org #2 1 too high 4 
Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221)
wp.org #11 ↓1 7 too low 5 
The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461)
wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too low 6 
MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435)
wp.org #13 7 too low 7 
Import and export users and customers 70K+ · 4.7★ (259)
wp.org #12 5 too low 8 
Enable Media Replace 600K+ · 4.4★ (302)
wp.org #10 ↓3 2 too low 9 
BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55)
wp.org #9 ↑2 10 
Display Post Types – Post Grid, post list and post sliders 8K+ · 5.0★ (26)
wp.org #7 ↑1 3 too high 11 Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups 20K+ · 4.9★ (701)
wp.org #19 8 too low 12 
Wishlist and Waitlist for WooCommerce 100+ · 3.9★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #3 9 too high 13 L List View Google Calendar 400+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #5 ↓1 8 too high 14 
CrawlWP SEO – Complete WordPress SEO Plugin with AI, Indexing & Search Performance 30K+ · 4.7★ (62)
wp.org #14 ↑2 15 
Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641)
wp.org #16 ↓2 1 too low 16 YITH WooCommerce Waitlist 3K+ · 3.2★ (26)
wp.org #6 10 too high 17 
Open User Map – Interactive Leaflet Maps 10K+ · 5.0★ (70)
wp.org #20 3 too low 18 
Shared Files – File Upload & Download Manager 4K+ · 4.4★ (34)
wp.org #18 ↓5 19 H Hotfix 4K+ · 4.7★ (18) thin reviews
wp.org #17 ↑1 2 too high 20 
Wedding RSVP – Wedding Guest List, Meal Choices & RSVP Tracker 100+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews
wp.org #15 5 too high 21 
SpeedyCache – Cache, Optimization, Performance 500K+ · 4.4★ (30) host-installed base
wp.org #24 ↓1 3 too low 22 
Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #23 ↓2 1 too low 23 
Protect Login 700+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too high 24 
AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #22 ↓3 2 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.