Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 mu analytics”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Cookiez – GDPR & CCPA Cookie Banner & Consent Manager shows at wp.org #10 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 50K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Modular DS: Monitor, update, and backup multiple websites places #12 on merit, 5.0★ from 133 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (759) wp.org #1 2 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1668) wp.org #2 3 FluentSnippets – High-Performance Code Snippets, Header & Footer Code, Custom CSS & PHP Code Manager 50K+ · 4.7★ (78) wp.org #4 ↑2 1 too low 4 Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN 70K+ · 4.7★ (1488) wp.org #8 ↑1 4 too low 5 AddToAny Share Buttons 300K+ · 4.7★ (1114) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 VigIA – AI Visibility, Analytics & Control 2K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 ManageWP Worker 1M+ · 4.6★ (679) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too low 8 AMP WP – Google AMP For WordPress 600+ · 4.5★ (55) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too high 9 Minimal Coming Soon – Coming Soon Page 100K+ · 4.3★ (282) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #13 ↑1 3 too low 11 hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #11 ↓1 12 Modular DS: Monitor, update, and backup multiple websites 40K+ · 5.0★ (133) wp.org #20 ↓1 8 too low 13 Admin Menu Editor 300K+ · 4.6★ (312) wp.org #22 9 too low 14 Cloudflare 200K+ · 3.5★ (181) wp.org #14 ↓1 15 BotBlocker Security – Complete security platform 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #7 ↓2 8 too high 16 Team Members Showcase 4K+ · 4.9★ (21) wp.org #16 ↑1 17 Banhammer – Monitor Site Traffic, Block Bad Users and Bots 1K+ · 4.4★ (19) wp.org #17 ↓1 18 Cincopa video and media plug-in 1K+ · 2.8★ (26) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 Cookiez – GDPR & CCPA Cookie Banner & Consent Manager 50K+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #10 ↑1 9 too high 20 Scrutoscope – WordPress Performance Profiler 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 Footprint – Find what slows your site 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 2 too high 22 Instant Back/Forward 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too high 23 Whippet 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓2 24 WP Guardian – Security Hardening Checklist & Lightweight Firewall 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.