wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “website boost”

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 “website boost”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 4 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

WooCommerce PayPal Payments shows at wp.org #14 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 800K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.9★ average from 583 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS 200K+ · 4.7★ (612) wp.org #1 2

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 #2 3

WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #3 4

Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514) wp.org #4 ↑1 5

TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too low 6

Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too low 7

Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) not PHP-current wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too high 8

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #5 ↓1 3 too high 9

Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #12 3 too low 10

Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #10 ↓4 11

Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #13 2 too low 12

Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #9 ↑1 3 too high 13

ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #16 3 too low 14

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #21 7 too low 15

10Web Booster – Website speed optimization, Cache & Page Speed optimizer 60K+ · 4.6★ (405) wp.org #18 ↓1 3 too low 16

Kirki – Freeform Page Builder, Website Builder & Customizer 500K+ · 4.5★ (81) wp.org #11 5 too high 17

Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #22 5 too low 18

Visual Composer Website Builder 30K+ · 4.6★ (220) heavy footprint wp.org #19 1 too low 19

Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #17 ↑1 2 too high 20

FastPixel Cache – Optimize Page Speed: Compress Images, Minify, Clean Database & CDN 4K+ · 4.8★ (50) not PHP-current wp.org #15 5 too high 21

Cart Abandonment Recovery for WooCommerce – Recover Lost Sales with Automated Emails 300K+ · 4.8★ (625) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #24 3 too low 22

Social Boost: Giveaways, Instant win and Contests. Grow followers, shares, subscribers, traffic, referrals, sales and more 100+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #20 2 too high 23

Translate and boost SEO – Automatic AI translation – wpLingua 2K+ · 4.9★ (33) wp.org #23 ↓1 24

WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #14 10 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.