wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “web 2.0”

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 “web 2.0”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 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

iZooto – Web Push Notifications shows at wp.org #6 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 900+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce places #3 on merit, 5.0★ from 1865 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Super Progressive Web Apps 40K+ · 4.6★ (225) wp.org #1 2

Web-Stat – Live Visitor Analytics 5K+ · 4.4★ (20) thin reviews wp.org #2 3

PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce 300K+ · 5.0★ (1865) wp.org #13 10 too low 4

BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #9 5 too low 5

Super Web Share – Native Social Sharing Button 2K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #5 6

WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (199) wp.org #11 5 too low 7

Web Directory plugin Free – AI powered 300+ · 4.1★ (20) thin reviews wp.org #4 3 too high 8

Imagify Image Optimization: Optimize Images | Compress & Convert to WebP/AVIF 900K+ · 4.3★ (1657) wp.org #12 4 too low 9

Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #19 10 too low 10

User Switching 200K+ · 4.9★ (238) wp.org #16 6 too low 11

Gravitec.net – Web Push Notifications 1K+ · 4.4★ (21) thin reviews wp.org #8 3 too high 12

Catch Web Tools 10K+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #3 9 too high 13

GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #15 2 too low 14

Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167) wp.org #24 10 too low 15

CopySafe Web Protection – Copy Protect Images 800+ · 4.1★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #7 8 too high 16

JWT Authentication for WP REST APIs 10K+ · 4.4★ (74) wp.org #20 4 too low 17

Gmail SMTP 10K+ · 4.1★ (103) wp.org #21 4 too low 18

iZooto – Web Push Notifications 900+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #6 12 too high 19

Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #14 5 too high 20

Custom HTML Block Extension 7K+ · 5.0★ (13) thin reviews wp.org #22 2 too low 21

Customify 10K+ · 3.8★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #23 2 too low 22

WP-FormAssembly 2K+ · 4.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #10 12 too high 23

Wingify 4K+ · 3.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #18 5 too high 24

Web Push Notifications by Aimtell 40+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #17 7 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.