wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “where we are”
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 “where we are”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 4 of the top 20.
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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.
Ranked above its merit
No Gutenberg? – Choose Where to Use the Block Editor or the Classic Editor shows at wp.org #8 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 9K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 16 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
How this rank is calculated
Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.
A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.
A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.
Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.
Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5,043)
wp.org #1 2 
Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3,224)
wp.org #2 3 
Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333)
wp.org #3 ↑2 4 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (412)
wp.org #4 ↓1 5 
WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4,833)
wp.org #5 ↓1 6 
LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2,778)
wp.org #6 ↑1 7 
All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1,720)
wp.org #7 ↑3 8 
Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4,962)
wp.org #10 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 9 
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14,389)
wp.org #11 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 10 
WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1,919)
wp.org #12 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 11 
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2,409)
wp.org #9 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 12 
The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2,463)
wp.org #14 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 13 
Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (398)
wp.org #16 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 14 
WP Job Manager 70K+ · 4.4★ (237)
wp.org #13 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 15 
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7,322)
wp.org #18 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 16 
BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1,323)
wp.org #15 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 17 
PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1,321)
wp.org #23 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 18 
MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3,158)
wp.org #19 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 19 
Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1,398)
wp.org #20 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 20 No Gutenberg? – Choose Where to Use the Block Editor or the Classic Editor 9K+ · 5.0★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #8 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 12 places above merit 21 
Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1,872)
wp.org #21 ↑3 22 
Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1,445)
wp.org #24 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 23 
Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (743)
wp.org #22 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 24 
Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #17 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 7 places above merit Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.