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

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 “виджет”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

CdekPay shows at wp.org #14 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 60+ installs carry it up the search order; its 1.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

How this rank is calculated

Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.

A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.

A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.

Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Team Members – Multi Language Supported Team Plugin 6K+ · 5.0★ (85) wp.org #2 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 2 Widget for Zen 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #1 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 3 Login via Yandex – вход через Яндекс ID 100+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #3 4 Zen Feed 400+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #18 wp.org ranks it 14 places below merit 5 Russian Currency 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #7 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 6 Robokassa payment gateway for Woocommerce 3K+ · 4.3★ (32) wp.org #20 wp.org ranks it 14 places below merit 7 ЮKassa для WooCommerce 9K+ · 3.8★ (33) wp.org #17 wp.org ranks it 10 places below merit 8 Prisna YT – Яндекс Переводчик 60+ · 3.5★ (4) wp.org #4 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 9 CloudPayments Gateway for WooCommerce 500+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #5 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 10 ZVI CallBack widget 90+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #10 11 5Post – Shipping for WooCommerce 100+ · 3.0★ (4) wp.org #6 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit 12 LitRes Widget 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 13 widget text class ats 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit 14 LoymaxWebApp 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit 15 mi13-like 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 16 T TipTopPay Gateway for WooCommerce 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 17 Tolstoy Comments 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 18 YandexId Plugin 90+ · 2.4★ (7) wp.org #16 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 19 WP Clean 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 20 Affiliate program for your website ( integration with Sdelka.biz ) 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 21 Cognitiveai widget chat AI — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 22 СберЛид 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 23 CdekPay 60+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #14 wp.org ranks it 9 places above merit 24 Яндекс Доставка (Boxberry) 400+ · 3.0★ (1) wp.org #24

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.