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

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 developer”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 3 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

Bangla Web Fonts shows at wp.org #9 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager places #10 on merit, 5.0★ from 1526 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #6 ↑7 1 too low 6 OneSignal – Web Push Notifications 60K+ · 4.3★ (360) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Web Push Notifications – Webpushr 10K+ · 4.7★ (63) wp.org #4 ↑1 3 too high 8 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #13 ↓1 4 too low 10 Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1526) wp.org #16 ↓1 6 too low 11 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too high 12 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #15 3 too low 13 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #19 6 too low 14 Super Web Share – Native Social Sharing Button 2K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #8 ↓2 6 too high 15 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 Brevo – Email, SMS, Web Push, Chat, and more. 100K+ · 4.1★ (284) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #21 ↓2 4 too low 18 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 Powered Cache – Caching and Optimization for WordPress – Easily Improve PageSpeed & Web Vitals Score 3K+ · 4.8★ (58) wp.org #22 ↑3 3 too low 20 Bangla Web Fonts 2K+ · 4.8★ (6) wp.org #9 ↓1 11 too high 21 SendPulse Free Web Push 500+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #14 7 too high 22 Podlove Web Player 4K+ · 3.7★ (14) wp.org #12 ↓2 10 too high 23 Remote Website Management by Watchful 3K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 WEB-Translation – eTranslation Multilingual 400+ · 3.7★ (7) wp.org #17 ↑1 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.