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← Rankings

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

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 trust”, 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

Business Reviews – build trust with real customer feedback shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 2470 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 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #1 2 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #2 3 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #3 4 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 Rich Showcase for Google Reviews 100K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too low 8 Modular DS: Monitor, update, and backup multiple websites 40K+ · 5.0★ (133) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too low 9 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #15 ↑2 6 too low 10 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #20 ↑2 10 too low 11 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #11 12 Antispam Bee 700K+ · 4.8★ (226) wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too low 13 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #22 ↓4 9 too low 14 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #5 ↑8 9 too high 15 BlogVault Backup & Staging 80K+ · 4.6★ (332) wp.org #23 ↑1 8 too low 16 WP Social Ninja – Embed Social Feeds, User Reviews & Chat Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (71) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 TrustedSite 10K+ · 4.2★ (26) wp.org #19 2 too low 18 Cozy Blocks – Website Builder & Business Growth Toolkit | Popups, Lead Forms & Inbox 6K+ · 4.6★ (21) wp.org #18 ↑2 19 Juicer.io: Effortlessly embed, curate, and aggregate social media feeds into your website 8K+ · 4.2★ (29) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 Age Verification & Identity Verification by Token of Trust 30+ · 4.3★ (15) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 FormFacade – Embed Google Forms in your website 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #17 ↓2 4 too high 22 Business Reviews – build trust with real customer feedback 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 14 too high 23 Trust Payments Gateway for WooCommerce 400+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓5 11 too high 24 ZIP AI – AI Website Builder & AI Agent 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↓2 8 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.