Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 redirect”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Advanced GeoIP Redirect shows at wp.org #13 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 900+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.6★ average from 11 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 #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 4699 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 LoginWP (Formerly Peter's Login Redirect) 80K+ · 4.8★ (503) wp.org #1 2 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 Redirection for Contact Form 7 200K+ · 4.7★ (275) wp.org #2 ↑3 1 too high 4 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #8 ↑7 4 too low 5 Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 1M+ · 4.9★ (4755) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too low 6 All 404 Redirect to Homepage 200K+ · 4.1★ (96) wp.org #4 ↓2 2 too high 7 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Safe Redirect Manager 40K+ · 4.7★ (78) wp.org #5 ↓2 3 too high 9 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #20 10 too low 11 Simple 301 Redirects by BetterLinks – Easy Redirect Manager 100K+ · 3.8★ (162) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too high 12 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #19 ↓2 7 too low 13 Redirect 404 to Homepage 60K+ · 4.6★ (24) wp.org #9 ↑1 4 too high 14 Spectra Blocks – AI Website Builder for the Block Editor 60K+ · 4.6★ (53) wp.org #11 ↓2 3 too high 15 Kirki – Freeform Page Builder, Website Builder & Customizer 500K+ · 4.5★ (81) wp.org #15 ↓1 16 Simple Website Redirect 5K+ · 4.6★ (21) wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too high 17 SEO Redirection Plugin – 301 Redirect Manager 10K+ · 4.3★ (73) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Quick 301 Redirects 7K+ · 4.6★ (12) wp.org #16 2 too high 19 Thank You Page for WooCommerce 10K+ · 5.0★ (43) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 Advanced GeoIP Redirect 900+ · 3.6★ (11) wp.org #13 ↑6 7 too high 21 Advanced 301 and 302 Redirect 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #17 ↑1 4 too high 22 Device-Based Redirect 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 ↑1 1 too high 23 DevDome Redirect Manager: Link Rotator, Geo Redirect & 302 Redirect 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 Website Open/Closed Toggle 500+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.