wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wp links”
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 links”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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.
Ranked above its merit
Broken Link Checker shows at wp.org #11 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 500K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.8★ average from 605 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 1322 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
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 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708)
wp.org #3 4 
WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228)
wp.org #4 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 #6 ↑1 7 
WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (758)
wp.org #7 ↑2 8 
WP 2FA – Two-factor authentication for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (184)
wp.org #8 ↑2 9 
WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312)
wp.org #10 ↑4 1 too low 10 
Internal Link Juicer: SEO Auto Linker for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (537)
wp.org #12 2 too low 11 
Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667)
wp.org #15 4 too low 12 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322)
wp.org #18 ↓2 6 too low 13 
WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138)
wp.org #20 ↓1 7 too low 14 
WP Reset 300K+ · 4.8★ (1014)
wp.org #19 ↑2 5 too low 15 
External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window 80K+ · 4.3★ (247) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #9 ↓1 6 too high 16 
WP Accessibility 60K+ · 4.8★ (68)
wp.org #13 ↑5 3 too high 17 
WP Crontrol 300K+ · 4.4★ (167)
wp.org #14 ↑3 3 too high 18 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #17 ↑3 1 too high 19 
Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053)
wp.org #24 5 too low 20 
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) heavy footprint
wp.org #16 4 too high 21 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #11 ↑2 10 too high 22 
WP-PageNavi 400K+ · 4.7★ (149)
wp.org #22 ↓11 23 
WP Umbrella: Security Backup Restore & Monitoring 90K+ · 4.8★ (81)
wp.org #23 24 W WP Photo Album Plus 10K+ · 4.7★ (199) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #21 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.