wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “web development”
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 development”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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
Push Notifications for WP – Self Hosted Web Push Notifications shows at wp.org #10 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 6K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN places #9 on merit, 4.7★ from 1488 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.
WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833)
wp.org #1 2 
WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4229)
wp.org #3 1 too low 3 
Super Web Share – Native Social Sharing Button 2K+ · 4.9★ (29)
wp.org #2 1 too high 4 
Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262)
wp.org #4 5 
PWA for WP – Progressive Web Apps Made Simple 10K+ · 4.6★ (230)
wp.org #5 6 
Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1872)
wp.org #6 7 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708)
wp.org #9 ↓2 2 too low 8 
Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333)
wp.org #8 ↑2 9 Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN 70K+ · 4.7★ (1488)
wp.org #13 ↓1 4 too low 10 
W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420)
wp.org #11 1 too low 11 
Powered Cache – Caching and Optimization for WordPress – Easily Improve PageSpeed & Web Vitals Score 3K+ · 4.8★ (58)
wp.org #7 ↑1 4 too high 12 
AddToAny Share Buttons 300K+ · 4.7★ (1114)
wp.org #16 ↓2 4 too low 13 
Stop Spammers Classic 20K+ · 4.4★ (243)
wp.org #12 ↑4 1 too high 14 
Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132)
wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too low 15 
WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346)
wp.org #15 ↑3 16 
LightStart – Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder 400K+ · 4.3★ (874)
wp.org #17 ↑6 1 too low 17 
SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356)
wp.org #19 2 too low 18 
Head Meta Data 10K+ · 4.8★ (19) thin reviews
wp.org #14 ↓1 4 too high 19 
BerqWP – All-In-One Optimization for Core Web Vitals, Cache, CDN, Images, CSS & JavaScript 4K+ · 4.3★ (54)
wp.org #22 ↓1 3 too low 20 
Add to Home Screen & Progressive Web App 1K+ · 3.7★ (25)
wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too low 21 Push Notifications for WP – Self Hosted Web Push Notifications 6K+ · 4.2★ (5) thin reviews
wp.org #10 ↓1 11 too high 22 
Subscribers – Free Web Push Notifications 1K+ · 2.9★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #24 2 too low 23 
Fonto – Custom Web Fonts Manager 2K+ · 3.0★ (4) thin reviews
wp.org #23 ↓1 24 
Wawp Country Code & Chat Widget for WooCommerce 400+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews
wp.org #20 ↓1 4 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.