wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wp link”
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 link”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 of the top 20.
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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.
Ranked above its merit
Link Library shows at wp.org #16 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 4 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 97 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★ (5210)
wp.org #1 ↑1 2 
PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322)
wp.org #3 1 too low 3 
WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470)
wp.org #4 1 too low 4 
Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605)
wp.org #2 ↓1 2 too high 5 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8709)
wp.org #5 6 
WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4229)
wp.org #6 ↑3 7 
All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676)
wp.org #7 ↑3 8 
WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617)
wp.org #8 ↓2 9 
WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312)
wp.org #11 2 too low 10 
WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (758)
wp.org #9 ↑12 1 too high 11 
WP 2FA – Two-factor authentication for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (184)
wp.org #10 ↑10 1 too high 12 
Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667)
wp.org #13 ↑3 1 too low 13 
WP Reset 300K+ · 4.8★ (1014)
wp.org #19 ↑4 6 too low 14 
WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1139)
wp.org #21 ↑1 7 too low 15 
WP Accessibility 60K+ · 4.8★ (68)
wp.org #12 3 too high 16 
WP-PageNavi 400K+ · 4.7★ (149)
wp.org #14 ↓6 2 too high 17 
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440)
wp.org #17 18 
WP Crontrol 300K+ · 4.4★ (167)
wp.org #15 ↓2 3 too high 19 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #18 1 too high 20 Link Library 10K+ · 4.7★ (97)
wp.org #16 ↓4 4 too high 21 W WP Photo Album Plus 10K+ · 4.7★ (199)
wp.org #22 1 too low 22 
Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373)
wp.org #24 2 too low 23 
WP Umbrella: Security Backup Restore & Monitoring 90K+ · 4.8★ (81)
wp.org #23 24 
Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87)
wp.org #20 ↓5 4 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.