Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “abc”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 2 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

Choon Player shows at wp.org #12 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 40+ 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 ABC Crypto Checkout 1K+ · 4.9★ (30) wp.org #1 2 Pricing Table – Responsive & Easy 3K+ · 4.2★ (26) wp.org #2 3 Disqus Comment System 30K+ · 2.7★ (219) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Advanced Block Controls (ABC) — Core Blocks Page Builder and Full Site Editing Toolkit 80+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Structured Content (JSON-LD) #wpsc 30K+ · 4.6★ (25) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 Run Contests, Raffles, and Giveaways with ContestsWP 100+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #6 7 Shelf Planner Inventory Management for WooCommerce 100+ · 4.7★ (16) wp.org #7 8 Bitcoin and Altcoin Wallets 50+ · 4.8★ (27) wp.org #15 7 too low 9 Advanced coupon for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #17 8 too low 10 CubeWP Framework 3K+ · 4.8★ (12) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 C Contact Form 7 to API 1K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #8 3 too high 12 Shortcode for Font Awesome 700+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 8 too high 13 Encyclopedia / Glossary / Wiki 1K+ · 3.4★ (161) wp.org #23 10 too low 14 Superb Social Media Share Buttons and Follow Buttons 6K+ · 4.4★ (11) wp.org #13 1 too high 15 Content Publisher for Confluence – Sync & Embed pages 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 1 too high 16 ABC Integrity — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 5 too high 17 Site Updates Report 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 ABC Bits Cron Monitor — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 19 DownloadSentinel 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↑1 20 Inlarge – Inline Image Zoom 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↑1 21 Minimal Stripe Wrapper 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 Business Messaging for WbizTool 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Alpha Addons for Gravity Forms 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓2 2 too high 24 Choon Player 40+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #12 12 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.