Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wp rest api”

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 rest api”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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.

R

Ranked above its merit

REST API Log shows at wp.org #11 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.6★ average from 24 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 6053 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 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 #2 1 too low 2 Disable WP REST API 30K+ · 4.8★ (36) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #5 ↑2 2 too low 4 JWT Authentication for WP REST APIs 10K+ · 4.4★ (74) wp.org #4 5 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too low 6 WP REST Cache 10K+ · 4.9★ (42) wp.org #3 ↑3 3 too high 7 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #7 ↑6 8 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 WP 2FA – Two-factor authentication for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (184) wp.org #10 ↑10 1 too low 10 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #13 ↑2 3 too low 11 JWT Authentication for WP REST API 60K+ · 4.4★ (53) wp.org #6 ↓1 5 too high 12 Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #18 6 too low 13 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #15 ↓4 2 too low 14 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #19 ↓2 5 too low 15 Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 WP-Sweep 100K+ · 4.7★ (138) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 WPGet API – Connect to any external REST API 10K+ · 5.0★ (32) wp.org #17 ↑4 18 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 WP API SwaggerUI 2K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #12 ↑2 7 too high 20 R REST API Log 5K+ · 3.6★ (24) wp.org #11 ↑1 9 too high 21 CoCart – Headless REST API for WooCommerce 900+ · 4.9★ (21) wp.org #21 22 SMNTCS Disable REST API User Endpoints 8K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 ↑2 8 too high 23 REST API Guard 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 SteadFast API 8K+ · 3.3★ (3) wp.org #16 ↑3 8 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.