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← Rankings

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

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 rating”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 5 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

GD Rating System shows at wp.org #11 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 24 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #1 2 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #2 ↑2 3 Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Reviews and Rating – Google Reviews 20K+ · 4.9★ (184) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too high 5 WP Reset 300K+ · 4.8★ (1014) wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too low 6 W WP Photo Album Plus 10K+ · 4.7★ (199) wp.org #4 ↑3 2 too high 7 WP Recipe Maker 50K+ · 5.0★ (356) wp.org #7 ↑1 8 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 WP Table Builder – Drag & Drop Table Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (681) wp.org #12 ↑1 3 too low 10 WP Rollback – Rollback Plugins and Themes 200K+ · 4.9★ (215) wp.org #10 ↑1 11 WP-PostRatings 20K+ · 4.4★ (178) wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too high 12 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #14 ↑5 2 too low 13 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 WP ULike – Like Buttons, Voting & Engagement Analytics 60K+ · 4.8★ (283) wp.org #19 ↑1 5 too low 15 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #20 ↑1 5 too low 16 WP Job Manager 70K+ · 4.4★ (237) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 AI-Powered Carousel, Slider, Video & Photo Gallery Blocks by WP Carousel 60K+ · 4.7★ (434) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP 100K+ · 4.5★ (252) wp.org #13 ↑2 5 too high 19 WP Travel Engine – Tour Booking Plugin – Tour Operator Software 20K+ · 4.9★ (594) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Rate My Post – Star Rating Plugin by FeedbackWP 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #15 ↓1 5 too high 21 GD Rating System 1K+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #11 ↑1 10 too high 22 Stars Rating 1K+ · 4.7★ (23) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 too low 23 WP Search with Algolia 7K+ · 4.5★ (24) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 WP Ultimate Review 60K+ · 3.4★ (17) wp.org #17 7 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.