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

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 statistics”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Markdown for Agents and Statistics shows at wp.org #10 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #1 2

LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #5 ↓3 3 too low 3

Metricool – Social media and site statistics 90K+ · 4.4★ (22) thin reviews wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too high 4

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #4 ↑8 5

Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #6 1 too low 6

W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #8 ↓2 2 too low 7

Web-Stat – Live Visitor Analytics 5K+ · 4.4★ (20) thin reviews wp.org #3 ↓1 4 too high 8

WP Visitor Statistics (Real Time Traffic) 20K+ · 4.5★ (156) wp.org #7 ↓4 1 too high 9

FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #9 ↓3 10

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 #13 ↓3 3 too low 11

Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1668) wp.org #12 ↓3 1 too low 12

Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too high 13

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #17 4 too low 14

Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #21 ↑2 7 too low 15

Brevo – Email, SMS, Web Push, Chat, and more. 100K+ · 4.1★ (284) wp.org #19 ↓2 4 too low 16

All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #24 ↓4 8 too low 17

Gravitec.net – Web Push Notifications 1K+ · 4.4★ (21) thin reviews wp.org #16 ↓2 1 too high 18

Web Accessibility (formally known as Ally) – WCAG Scanning, Guided Fixes, Usability Widget 500K+ · 2.9★ (162) wp.org #15 ↓3 3 too high 19

Easy Optimizer – PageSpeed, Cache & Core Web Vitals (Unused CSS, Delay JS, Lazy Load) 1K+ · 4.6★ (18) thin reviews wp.org #20 1 too low 20

INDIGITALL – Instant Chat, Web Push Notifications 90+ · 4.8★ (12) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #23 ↓3 3 too low 21

DevDome Analytics: Bot Traffic vs Human Traffic Website Statistics 300+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↓5 7 too high 22

Push Notifications for WP – Self Hosted Web Push Notifications 6K+ · 4.2★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #18 ↓3 4 too high 23

Markdown for Agents and Statistics 200+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #10 ↓3 13 too high 24

AWeber – Free Sign Up Form and Landing Page Builder Plugin for Lead Generation and Email Newsletter Growth 8K+ · 2.6★ (25) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #22 ↓4 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.