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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “公众号”

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 “公众号”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20.

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

WxSync-标准云微信公众号文章免费采集-任意公众号自动采集付费购买 shows at wp.org #10 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ 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 WPOSS阿里云对象存储 800+ · 4.6★ (7) wp.org #1 2 胖鼠采集(Fat Rat Collect) 800+ · 4.7★ (46) wp.org #5 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 3 WPQiNiu七牛云对象存储 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 4 WPCOS腾讯云对象存储COS 300+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #4 5 WPCOM Member 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #3 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 6 果果推送 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 7 WP Weixin 300+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #17 wp.org ranks it 10 places below merit 8 WPUPYUN又拍云云存储 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 9 Wenprise WeChatPay Payment Gateway For WooCommerce 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 10 S Smartideo 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #23 wp.org ranks it 13 places below merit 11 Wechat download 付费下载 200+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #24 wp.org ranks it 13 places below merit 12 WPCopyRights网站防复制插件 400+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 13 导入微信文章 (Import Articles from WeChat) 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 14 WeChat微信公众号关键词回复 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 15 WxSync-标准云微信公众号文章免费采集-任意公众号自动采集付费购买 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit 16 文章配图 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 17 隐藏内容 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 18 WP VK-付费内容插件(付费阅读/资料/工具软件资源管理) 70+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #19 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 19 [凹凸曼] 一键采集微信文章 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 20 LeSeo 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 21 [凹凸曼]一键微信登录 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 22 优刻得UCloud对象存储插件 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 23 部分内容加密 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 24 Online Contact Widget-多合一在线客服插件 700+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit

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.