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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “验证码”

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 “验证码”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Smart Keywords Tool – 智能关键词插件 shows at wp.org #13 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 500+ 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 Sync QCloud COS 500+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #4 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 2 WPCOM Member 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #1 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 3 Mimi Captcha 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 4 胖鼠采集(Fat Rat Collect) 800+ · 4.7★ (46) wp.org #19 wp.org ranks it 15 places below merit 5 W WPJAM Basic 4K+ · 3.8★ (32) wp.org #18 wp.org ranks it 13 places below merit 6 Wenprise WeChatPay Payment Gateway For WooCommerce 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 7 Wenprise Alipay Gateway For WooCommerce 700+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 8 IMGspider – 图片采集抓取插件 2K+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #9 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 9 隐藏内容 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 10 [凹凸曼]中文验证码 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 11 果果推送 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 12 WeChat微信公众号关键词回复 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 13 SEO合集(支持百度/Google/Bing/GEO优化) 700+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit 14 多合一搜索自动推送管理插件-支持Baidu/Google/Bing/IndexNow/Yandex/头条 2K+ · 2.6★ (5) wp.org #11 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 15 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 #15 16 Baidu TextCensor For Comments 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 17 HotSpot AI 热点创作 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 18 Veesing — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 19 Smart Keywords Tool – 智能关键词插件 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 wp.org ranks it 6 places above merit 20 advert广告 — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 21 S Seoceo Reward & Share Poster (打赏分享海报插件) — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 22 exlink-safe-filter – External Link Security — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 23 WPFTP 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 wp.org ranks it 1 place 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.