wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wordpress maintenance”
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 maintenance”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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
Maintenance Mode shows at wp.org #9 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 8K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.6★ average from 14 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 4699 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.
Maintenance 1M+ · 4.4★ (869)
wp.org #1 2 
LightStart – Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder 400K+ · 4.3★ (874)
wp.org #2 3 
TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625)
wp.org #4 ↑4 1 too low 4 
CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin by NiteoThemes 200K+ · 4.7★ (326)
wp.org #3 ↑2 1 too high 5 
Hustle – Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Optins, Popups 80K+ · 4.4★ (859)
wp.org #7 2 too low 6 
BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) not PHP-current
wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too high 7 
MainWP Dashboard: Self-hosted WordPress Management for Agencies 20K+ · 4.9★ (2354) not PHP-current
wp.org #11 4 too low 8 
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387)
wp.org #13 ↓3 5 too low 9 
WP Maintenance 60K+ · 4.7★ (98) not PHP-current
wp.org #6 ↓3 3 too high 10 
Slim Maintenance Mode 10K+ · 5.0★ (63)
wp.org #8 ↓4 2 too high 11 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699)
wp.org #19 ↓1 8 too low 12 
Under Construction, Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode 10K+ · 4.6★ (46)
wp.org #10 ↑4 2 too high 13 
Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #15 2 too low 14 
Maintenance Redirect 10K+ · 4.9★ (24) thin reviews
wp.org #12 ↓1 2 too high 15 
WP Umbrella: Security Backup Restore & Monitoring 90K+ · 4.8★ (80)
wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too low 16 
Maintenance & Coming Soon Redirect Animation 3K+ · 5.0★ (34)
wp.org #14 ↓2 2 too high 17 Maintenance Mode 8K+ · 4.6★ (14) thin reviews
wp.org #9 8 too high 18 
Minimal Coming Soon – Coming Soon Page 100K+ · 4.3★ (282)
wp.org #24 ↓1 6 too low 19 
Disable All WordPress Updates 20K+ · 4.8★ (69)
wp.org #21 2 too low 20 
GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155)
wp.org #22 ↓7 2 too low 21 
Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode by Colorlib 5K+ · 4.7★ (42) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #18 ↑1 3 too high 22 
Maintenance Switch 800+ · 5.0★ (12) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #20 2 too high 23 
Coming Soon Maintenance Mode 6K+ · 4.7★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #16 ↓3 7 too high 24 M Minimal Maintenance Mode 900+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #23 ↓1 1 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.