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

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 hooks”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 of the top 20. 2 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

Astra Hooks shows at wp.org #7 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 20K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Reset places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 1014 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

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

All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #2 ↑1 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 #5 1 too low 5

WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #4 1 too high 6

WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #6 ↓4 7

WP Reset 300K+ · 4.8★ (1014) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8

WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too low 9

WP Crontrol 300K+ · 4.4★ (167) wp.org #9 10

FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too low 11

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #16 ↑2 5 too low 12

WP Accessibility 60K+ · 4.8★ (68) wp.org #10 ↑12 2 too high 13

WP Mail Logging 300K+ · 4.7★ (375) wp.org #15 ↑6 2 too low 14

WP Data Access – App Builder for Tables, Forms, Dashboards, Charts & Maps 10K+ · 4.9★ (88) wp.org #14 15

WP Rollback – Rollback Plugins and Themes 200K+ · 4.9★ (215) wp.org #17 ↓2 2 too low 16

Genesis Simple Hooks 20K+ · 4.6★ (22) thin reviews wp.org #8 8 too high 17

All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #22 ↓6 5 too low 18

WP-Sweep 100K+ · 4.7★ (138) wp.org #19 ↓2 1 too low 19

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) heavy footprint wp.org #18 1 too high 20

WP-Members Membership Plugin 50K+ · 4.6★ (272) wp.org #23 3 too low 21

WP-PageNavi 400K+ · 4.7★ (149) wp.org #20 ↓13 1 too high 22

Astra Hooks 20K+ · 4.5★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #7 ↓2 15 too high 23

Index WP MySQL For Speed 50K+ · 4.8★ (99) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #21 2 too high 24

WP Consent API 200K+ · 5.0★ (2) host-installed base thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓5

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.