wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “yahoo”
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 “yahoo”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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
GoSMTP – SMTP for WordPress 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 4.3★ average from 10 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Easy WP SMTP – WordPress SMTP and Email Logs: Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Outlook, Custom SMTP, and more places #11 on merit, 4.6★ from 709 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.
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #1 2 
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 3 
Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397)
wp.org #3 4 
Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #4 ↑14 5 
WP SMTP Mailer – SMTP7 8K+ · 5.0★ (115)
wp.org #5 ↓1 6 
Nextend Social Login and Register 200K+ · 4.9★ (446)
wp.org #7 1 too low 7 
AddToAny Share Buttons 300K+ · 4.7★ (1114) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too high 8 
Meta Tag Manager 70K+ · 4.8★ (84) not PHP-current
wp.org #8 ↓2 9 
Social Login, Social Sharing by miniOrange 10K+ · 4.6★ (356) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #9 10 
Schema – All In One Schema Rich Snippets 30K+ · 4.0★ (162)
wp.org #10 ↓2 11 Easy WP SMTP – WordPress SMTP and Email Logs: Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Outlook, Custom SMTP, and more 500K+ · 4.6★ (709)
wp.org #15 ↑1 4 too low 12 
Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528)
wp.org #16 ↓4 4 too low 13 
MaxButtons – Create buttons 70K+ · 4.9★ (1093)
wp.org #22 9 too low 14 
Blackhole for Bad Bots 30K+ · 4.7★ (148)
wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too low 15 
Product Feed Manager for WooCommerce – CTX Feed – Support 220+ Shopping, AI & Social Channels 90K+ · 4.6★ (838) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #17 ↓7 2 too low 16 
Auto Image Attributes From Filename With Bulk Updater (Add Alt Text, Image Title For Image SEO) 100K+ · 4.8★ (93)
wp.org #23 ↑1 7 too low 17 
Simple XML Sitemap Generator 3K+ · 4.6★ (11) thin reviews
wp.org #12 ↑1 5 too high 18 
Solid Mail – SMTP email and logging made by SolidWP 60K+ · 4.2★ (52)
wp.org #24 6 too low 19 
Add to Calendar Button 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) thin reviews
wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too low 20 
Login Widget With Shortcode 5K+ · 3.8★ (29)
wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too low 21 GoSMTP – SMTP for WordPress 500K+ · 4.3★ (10) host-installed base thin reviews
wp.org #11 ↑4 10 too high 22 
Pochipp 20K+ · 4.2★ (5) not PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #13 ↓2 9 too high 23 
Japanized for WooCommerce 10K+ · 3.3★ (21) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #19 ↑4 4 too high 24 
UsersWP – Social Login 2K+ · 3.3★ (4) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #14 10 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.