wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “web archive”
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 archive”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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
Disable Author Archives shows at wp.org #5 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.4★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 4699 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322)
wp.org #1 2 
LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778)
wp.org #3 ↑2 1 too low 3 
Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940)
wp.org #6 3 too low 4 
Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1872)
wp.org #7 3 too low 5 
Super Web Share – Native Social Sharing Button 2K+ · 4.9★ (29)
wp.org #4 1 too high 6 
BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323)
wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699)
wp.org #16 ↑3 9 too low 8 
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 #15 ↑1 7 too low 9 
Powered Cache – Caching and Optimization for WordPress – Easily Improve PageSpeed & Web Vitals Score 3K+ · 4.8★ (58)
wp.org #9 ↑6 10 
NitroPack – Performance, Page Speed & Cache Plugin for Core Web Vitals, CDN & Image Optimization 80K+ · 4.3★ (311)
wp.org #13 ↑1 3 too low 11 
Internet Archive Wayback Machine Link Fixer 1K+ · 3.8★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #2 9 too high 12 
WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617)
wp.org #17 5 too low 13 
Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463)
wp.org #24 11 too low 14 
NinjaFirewall (WP Edition) – Advanced Security Plugin and Firewall 100K+ · 4.9★ (220)
wp.org #20 6 too low 15 
File Manager Pro – Filester 100K+ · 4.9★ (155)
wp.org #19 ↑4 4 too low 16 D Disable Author Archives 10K+ · 4.4★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #5 ↓2 11 too high 17 
XML Sitemap & Google News 100K+ · 4.4★ (85)
wp.org #18 1 too low 18 
Xpro Theme Builder For Elementor – FREE 20K+ · 5.0★ (14) thin reviews
wp.org #11 7 too high 19 
Add to Cart Redirect for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.9★ (101)
wp.org #23 ↓1 4 too low 20 
Web Accessibility (formally known as Ally) – WCAG Scanning, Guided Fixes, Usability Widget 500K+ · 2.9★ (163)
wp.org #10 ↓1 10 too high 21 
WPSpeed – WordPress Speed, Cache & Performance Optimization (Core Web Vitals, PageSpeed 100) 2K+ · 4.9★ (40)
wp.org #21 22 
Easy Optimizer – PageSpeed, Cache & Core Web Vitals (Unused CSS, Delay JS, Lazy Load) 1K+ · 4.6★ (18) thin reviews
wp.org #14 ↓2 8 too high 23 
Archivarix External Images Importer 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) thin reviews
wp.org #12 ↑1 11 too high 24 
BerqWP – All-In-One Optimization for Core Web Vitals, Cache, CDN, Images, CSS & JavaScript 4K+ · 4.3★ (54)
wp.org #22 ↓1 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.