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

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 stats”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

StatCounter – Real Time Visitor Stats, Session Replay & Heatmaps shows at wp.org #11 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 70K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 56 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin signals wp.org

MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #1 2

Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1012) wp.org #3 1 too low 3

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #4 1 too low 4

ExactMetrics – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Plugin) 200K+ · 2.5★ (1546) throws errorsnot PHP-current low rating, top placement wp.org #2 2 too high 5

WP Server Health Stats 9K+ · 4.8★ (110) wp.org #5 6

Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #7 ↑4 1 too low 7

SlimStat Analytics – Real-Time Stats, Heatmaps & Ecommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (816) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #6 1 too high 8

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #10 ↓2 2 too low 9

Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #12 ↓2 3 too low 10

WP Visitor Statistics (Real Time Traffic) 20K+ · 4.5★ (156) wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too high 11

Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167) wp.org #9 ↑4 2 too high 12

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 #15 ↓9 3 too low 13

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #21 ↓6 8 too low 14

WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (758) wp.org #14 ↑6 15

Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #23 ↓9 8 too low 16

Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #20 ↓2 4 too low 17

StatCounter – Real Time Visitor Stats, Session Replay & Heatmaps 70K+ · 4.2★ (56) wp.org #11 ↓2 6 too high 18

FastPixel Cache – Optimize Page Speed: Compress Images, Minify, Clean Database & CDN 4K+ · 4.8★ (50) not PHP-current wp.org #17 1 too high 19

Web-Stat – Live Visitor Analytics 5K+ · 4.4★ (20) thin reviews wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too high 20

ConvertNow Analytics: Website Stats, Visitor Statistics, AI Traffic and Bot Filtering 70+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #18 2 too high 21

API Stats 80+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #16 5 too high 22

Kadence Central – Site Management, Backups, Security, and Reporting 30K+ · 4.2★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #22 ↓5 23

Piwik PRO 2K+ · 3.3★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓8 1 too low 24

Jetpack Stats 800+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #19 5 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.