wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wizard”
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 “wizard”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 2 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
Connector Wizard (formerly LC Wizard) shows at wp.org #6 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 800+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #6 on merit, 4.8★ from 27821 reviews, but shows at wp.org #10. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Child Theme Wizard 10K+ · 4.9★ (36)
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 #3 1 too low 3 
WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #2 1 too high 4 
Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1668)
wp.org #4 5 
Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #5 6 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821)
wp.org #10 ↑4 4 too low 7 
WP 2FA – Two-factor authentication for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (184)
wp.org #8 ↑3 1 too low 8 
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143)
wp.org #12 4 too low 9 
Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3003)
wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too low 10 
All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) not PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too high 11 
Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520)
wp.org #15 4 too low 12 
Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528)
wp.org #16 ↓7 4 too low 13 
SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267)
wp.org #20 7 too low 14 
WP Data Access – App Builder for Tables, Forms, Dashboards, Charts & Maps 10K+ · 4.9★ (88)
wp.org #14 ↑6 15 
WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312)
wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too low 16 
Complianz – Terms and Conditions 300K+ · 4.9★ (187)
wp.org #17 1 too low 17 
Solar Wizard Lite 200+ · 4.7★ (14) thin reviews
wp.org #7 10 too high 18 
White Label CMS 200K+ · 4.7★ (114)
wp.org #18 ↓2 19 
Photonic Gallery & Lightbox for Flickr, SmugMug & Others 10K+ · 4.8★ (193)
wp.org #23 4 too low 20 Connector Wizard (formerly LC Wizard) 800+ · 4.3★ (6) thin reviews
wp.org #6 14 too high 21 
Joli Table Of Contents – Table of Contents with Gutenberg Block & Shortcode 7K+ · 4.9★ (43)
wp.org #21 22 
Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #22 ↑2 23 
Blogger Import Wizard – Blogger to WordPress Importer 80+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #13 10 too high 24 
SiteSEO – SEO Simplified 400K+ · 4.0★ (8) host-installed base thin reviews
wp.org #24 ↓2 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.