How We Find the Best Plugins
We analyse every plugin in the WordPress.org directory and score them on five quality factors. Only the top plugins make it into our recommendations.
We Gather the Data
We pull information on every plugin from the official WordPress.org directory, over 70,944 of them. This includes install counts, ratings, support history, update frequency, and compatibility data. We refresh this data regularly to stay current.
We Score Every Plugin
Each plugin gets a quality score from 0 to 100 based on five factors. Only plugins scoring high enough across all factors make it into our vetted index of around 5,607 plugins.
AI Matches You to the Right Plugins
When you describe what you need, our AI searches the vetted plugins to find the best matches. It only recommends plugins from our quality-checked index, never from the full unvetted directory.
The Five Scoring Factors
How many websites actively use this plugin. More installs means more real-world testing and reliability.
How recently the plugin was updated. Plugins updated within the last 6 months score highest. Anything not updated in 2 years gets excluded.
The plugin's rating on WordPress.org, weighted by how many people have rated it. A 5-star rating from 500 users counts more than one from 3 users.
What percentage of support requests get resolved. This shows whether the developer actively helps users who run into problems.
Whether the plugin has been tested with recent WordPress versions. Plugins that fall behind on compatibility get lower scores.
What Gets Excluded
To be included in our recommendations, a plugin must meet ALL of these minimum standards:
- At least 1,000 active installations
- Updated within the last 2 years
- Rated 60 or higher (out of 100) with at least 5 ratings
- Tested with a recent WordPress version
This filters out abandoned, poorly-maintained, and untested plugins, leaving you with options you can trust.
Transparency
PluginCheck is a free community tool. We don't accept payment for plugin placements and we don't run ads. Every recommendation is based purely on our quality scoring and AI matching.