Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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

W

Ranked above its merit

WP Multibyte Patch shows at wp.org #12 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 1M+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 25 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Reset places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 1014 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 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 #1 2 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #2 3 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #3 ↑4 4 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #6 ↑2 7 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (758) wp.org #8 ↑16 9 WP 2FA – Two-factor authentication for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (184) wp.org #9 ↑11 10 WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312) wp.org #11 ↑1 1 too low 11 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too high 12 WP Reset 300K+ · 4.8★ (1014) wp.org #17 5 too low 13 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #19 ↑2 6 too low 14 WP Activity Log 300K+ · 4.7★ (490) wp.org #15 ↓6 1 too low 15 WP Crontrol 300K+ · 4.4★ (167) wp.org #13 ↑1 2 too high 16 WP Mail Logging 300K+ · 4.7★ (375) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 WP Accessibility 60K+ · 4.8★ (68) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 WPS Hide Login 2M+ · 4.8★ (2111) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #16 3 too high 20 WP Umbrella: Security Backup Restore & Monitoring 90K+ · 4.8★ (81) wp.org #21 ↑1 1 too low 21 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 W WP Photo Album Plus 10K+ · 4.7★ (199) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 Index WP MySQL For Speed 50K+ · 4.8★ (99) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 W WP Multibyte Patch 1M+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #12 ↑1 12 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.