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← Rankings

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

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 “worldwide”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 5 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

LTL Freight Quotes – Worldwide Express Edition shows at wp.org #7 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 90+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Translate WordPress – Google Language Translator places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 620 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 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #1 2 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #4 ↑3 1 too low 4 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 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 #10 4 too low 7 Admin Columns 100K+ · 4.9★ (1652) wp.org #13 6 too low 8 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #3 ↓1 5 too high 9 Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS 200K+ · 4.7★ (612) wp.org #15 ↑1 6 too low 10 Advanced Shipment Tracking for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.5★ (355) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 Translate WordPress – Google Language Translator 100K+ · 4.7★ (620) wp.org #19 ↑1 8 too low 12 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #18 6 too low 13 SMTP2GO for WordPress – Email Made Easy 40K+ · 5.0★ (67) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 Shipping Live Rates and Access Points for UPS for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.7★ (77) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 reSmush.it : The original free image compressor and optimizer plugin 100K+ · 4.3★ (166) wp.org #16 ↓1 17 GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Cloudflare 200K+ · 3.5★ (181) wp.org #20 ↑1 2 too low 19 Payment Gateway for PayPal on WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.4★ (73) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Disable WP Notification 10K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #17 ↑1 3 too high 21 Royal Mail Shipping Calculator for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.4★ (8) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 LTL Freight Quotes – Worldwide Express Edition 90+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 ↓3 15 too high 23 Small Package Quotes – Worldwide Express Edition 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 15 too high 24 Bookvault 800+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓2 3 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.