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← Rankings

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

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 “wpengine”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Store Opening Closing Hours Manager shows at wp.org #12 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Migrate Lite – Migration Made Easy places #7 on merit, 4.2★ from 318 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #1 2 C Clear Cache for Me 40K+ · 4.8★ (29) wp.org #2 3 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #5 ↑2 2 too low 4 Salt Shaker 7K+ · 4.7★ (27) wp.org #3 ↑2 1 too high 5 Better Search Replace 1M+ · 4.3★ (546) wp.org #6 ↓2 1 too low 6 JWT Authentication for WP REST API 60K+ · 4.4★ (53) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 WP Migrate Lite – Migration Made Easy 200K+ · 4.2★ (318) wp.org #15 ↓1 8 too low 8 Active Directory/LDAP Integration for Cloud & Shared Hosting Platforms 40+ · 4.9★ (39) wp.org #17 ↑3 9 too low 9 Pods Alternative Cache 5K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 too high 10 Reduce Unused CSS Solution with Critical CSS For WP 1K+ · 3.8★ (13) wp.org #8 2 too high 11 WP Client Reports 6K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #7 ↓1 4 too high 12 WP Offload SES Lite 10K+ · 4.3★ (36) wp.org #19 ↓2 7 too low 13 Genesis Custom Blocks 10K+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 WP Offload Media Lite for Amazon S3, DigitalOcean Spaces, and Google Cloud Storage 30K+ · 3.7★ (115) wp.org #24 ↓1 10 too low 15 Advanced GeoIP Redirect 900+ · 3.6★ (11) wp.org #10 ↑2 5 too high 16 WP Engine GeoTarget 400+ · 3.6★ (15) wp.org #14 ↓4 2 too high 17 Genesis Blocks 40K+ · 3.7★ (24) wp.org #20 ↓2 3 too low 18 Genesis Connect for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.1★ (17) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 App Builder – Create Native Android & iOS Apps On The Flight 500+ · 3.9★ (8) wp.org #11 ↑4 8 too high 20 One to one user Chat by WPGuppy 500+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #13 ↓2 7 too high 21 SCIM User Sync/Provisioning 200+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #18 ↑1 3 too high 22 Store Opening Closing Hours Manager 300+ · 4.0★ (5) wp.org #12 ↑1 10 too high 23 Genesis Portfolio Pro 5K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 DXP ToolKit 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 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.