Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wordpress mailbox”

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 “wordpress mailbox”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

Maileon for WordPress shows at wp.org #10 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 100+ 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

Groundhogg — CRM, Newsletters, and Marketing Automation places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 150 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WPO365 | SEAMLESS WORDPRESS + MICROSOFT INTEGRATION (WPO365 | LOGIN) 10K+ · 4.9★ (154) wp.org #1 2 Easy WP SMTP – WordPress SMTP and Email Logs: Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Outlook, Custom SMTP, and more 500K+ · 4.6★ (709) wp.org #2 3 WPO365 | MICROSOFT 365 GRAPH MAILER 10K+ · 5.0★ (40) wp.org #3 4 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too low 5 Copy Anything to Clipboard for WordPress – Copy Button, Copy Text & Copy Code 10K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 AcyMailing – An Ultimate Newsletter Plugin and Marketing Automation Solution for WordPress 5K+ · 4.8★ (157) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too low 7 Groundhogg — CRM, Newsletters, and Marketing Automation 2K+ · 4.8★ (150) wp.org #19 ↑5 12 too low 8 Colissimo shipping methods for WooCommerce 10K+ · 3.7★ (28) wp.org #8 ↓3 9 MyParcel 8K+ · 3.9★ (48) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 Fluent Support – Helpdesk & Customer Support Ticket System 10K+ · 4.6★ (69) wp.org #20 10 too low 11 AntiSpam for Contact Form 7 10K+ · 4.2★ (13) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 Support Genix – Helpdesk, AI Chatbot, Knowledge Base & Customer Support Ticketing System 3K+ · 4.5★ (10) wp.org #12 13 Bring Fraktguiden for WooCommerce 400+ · 4.0★ (19) wp.org #17 4 too low 14 Interac e-Transfer / Email Money Transfer (EMT) Gateway for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #9 5 too high 15 MBE eShip 1K+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #5 ↑1 10 too high 16 PostNL for WooCommerce 4K+ · 2.5★ (41) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 Bit CRM: Sales CRM Manage Lead, Contact, Deal, Invoice, Client Portal & Collect Payment 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 PressedMail – Email Client, Inbox & Webmail 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 Vachr Short-Term Rental Reservations 30+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 News Kit Addons For Elementor 3K+ · 3.6★ (5) wp.org #16 4 too high 21 Maileon for WordPress 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 11 too high 22 Posten Bring Checkout 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↓3 23 InternetWerk GmbH SMTP Mail 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓2 24 Mailster Gmail Integration 1K+ · 1.0★ (1) 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.