Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “white”

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 “white”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

F4 Simple White Label shows at wp.org #11 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 200+ 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

Under Construction places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 1285 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 White Label CMS 200K+ · 4.7★ (114) wp.org #1 2 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 #4 2 too low 3 White Label – WordPress Custom Admin, Custom Login Page, and Custom Dashboard 10K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Branda – White Label & Branding, Free Login Page Customizer 10K+ · 4.5★ (30) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 Adminify – White Label, Admin Menu Editor, Login Customizer 6K+ · 4.3★ (109) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1568) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too low 8 WP 2FA – Two-factor authentication for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (184) wp.org #8 ↑1 9 Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 Under Construction 600K+ · 4.8★ (1285) wp.org #17 ↓3 7 too low 11 ManageWP Worker 1M+ · 4.6★ (679) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 Easy Updates Manager 300K+ · 4.8★ (726) wp.org #18 6 too low 13 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too high 14 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167) wp.org #20 ↑1 5 too low 16 BlogVault Backup & Staging 80K+ · 4.6★ (332) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 Admin Menu Editor 300K+ · 4.6★ (312) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 Alex Reservations – Restaurant Reservations, Tables & White-Label Booking System 200+ · 4.9★ (28) wp.org #15 ↑1 3 too high 19 Enable Media Replace 600K+ · 4.4★ (302) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites 700K+ · 5.0★ (71) wp.org #16 ↑1 4 too high 21 Simple Maintenance Mode White Screen 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 11 too high 22 White Label WP Login 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↑1 8 too high 23 F4 Simple White Label 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↑1 12 too high 24 Dynamic Post – AI Content – White Paper – Peer Review – Tax & Accounting Sites 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓1 3 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.