wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “watch”
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 “watch”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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
Video Player for YouTube – Embed Videos Your Visitors Will Love to Watch shows at wp.org #5 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 12 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Customer Reviews for WooCommerce places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 1539 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519)
wp.org #1 2 
Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) heavy footprint
wp.org #2 3 
Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962)
wp.org #3 4 
Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) not PHP-current
wp.org #4 5 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #6 1 too low 6 
All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676)
wp.org #9 3 too low 7 
Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) not PHP-current
wp.org #8 1 too low 8 
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) heavy footprint
wp.org #7 ↑11 1 too high 9 
Rich Showcase for Google Reviews 100K+ · 4.9★ (1623)
wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too low 10 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539)
wp.org #18 ↓5 8 too low 11 
FluentCRM – Email Newsletter, Automation, Email Marketing, Email Campaigns, Optins, Leads, and CRM Solution 80K+ · 4.8★ (250)
wp.org #13 ↑3 2 too low 12 
WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1568)
wp.org #15 ↓4 3 too low 13 
TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #17 ↓7 4 too low 14 
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408)
wp.org #11 ↓6 3 too high 15 
Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1645)
wp.org #22 ↑2 7 too low 16 
Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680)
wp.org #21 ↑2 5 too low 17 
WPC Product Bundles for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.4★ (220) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #10 ↑2 7 too high 18 Video Player for YouTube – Embed Videos Your Visitors Will Love to Watch 1K+ · 4.8★ (12) not PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #5 ↑2 13 too high 19 
PixelYourSite – Your smart PIXEL (TAG) & API Manager 400K+ · 4.3★ (281)
wp.org #16 3 too high 20 
Depicter — Popup & Slider Builder 70K+ · 4.6★ (235) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #12 ↑5 8 too high 21 
Post Types Order 600K+ · 4.5★ (296)
wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too high 22 
Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281)
wp.org #19 ↓5 3 too high 23 
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) not PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #23 ↓3 24 
GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #24 ↓5 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.