Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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

Who Changed It? – Activity Log & Audit Trail shows at wp.org #3 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Contact Form 7 10M+ · 4.0★ (2186) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #4 ↑2 1 too low 4 MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) wp.org #5 ↓2 1 too low 5 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #10 ↓5 3 too low 8 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #9 ↑2 1 too low 9 Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74) wp.org #6 ↑6 3 too high 10 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #12 ↑2 2 too low 11 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #13 ↓3 2 too low 12 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #11 ↓2 1 too high 13 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3004) wp.org #20 ↑3 7 too low 14 Who Changed It? – Activity Log & Audit Trail 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #3 ↑1 11 too high 15 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 Classic Editor 8M+ · 4.9★ (1251) wp.org #22 ↓2 6 too low 17 Product Customer List for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.9★ (75) wp.org #17 ↑1 18 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1872) wp.org #23 ↑1 4 too low 20 Skyboot Custom Icons for Elementor – Elementor Icons library – 14300+ Icons 200K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #14 ↓1 6 too high 21 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #15 ↑2 6 too high 22 Whols – Wholesale Prices and B2B Store Solution for WooCommerce 3K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #16 6 too high 23 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 Customer who viewed this item also viewed using Woocommerce 50+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #18 ↑4 6 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.