wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wp help”
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 help”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 4 of the top 20. 3 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
WP Photo Album Plus shows at wp.org #19 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 199 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
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 ↑3 4 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706)
wp.org #4 ↓1 5 
All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676)
wp.org #5 ↓1 6 
WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617)
wp.org #7 1 too low 7 
WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346)
wp.org #6 ↑2 1 too high 8 
WP 2FA – Two-factor authentication for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (184)
wp.org #8 ↑1 9 
WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312)
wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too low 10 
WP Reset 300K+ · 4.8★ (1014)
wp.org #12 ↑2 2 too low 11 
WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (758)
wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too high 12 
Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053)
wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too low 13 
Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667)
wp.org #15 ↑9 2 too low 14 
WP Accessibility 60K+ · 4.8★ (68)
wp.org #11 ↑6 3 too high 15 
WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138)
wp.org #22 ↓2 7 too low 16 
WP Crontrol 300K+ · 4.4★ (167)
wp.org #13 ↑2 3 too high 17 
WP Activity Log 300K+ · 4.7★ (490)
wp.org #18 ↓6 1 too low 18 
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) heavy footprint
wp.org #16 2 too high 19 
WP Rollback – Rollback Plugins and Themes 200K+ · 4.9★ (215)
wp.org #21 ↓3 2 too low 20 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #20 ↓1 21 
BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) not PHP-current
wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too high 22 
WP Job Manager 70K+ · 4.4★ (237)
wp.org #24 ↓2 2 too low 23 
WP Umbrella: Security Backup Restore & Monitoring 90K+ · 4.8★ (81)
wp.org #23 ↓2 24 W WP Photo Album Plus 10K+ · 4.7★ (199) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #19 5 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.