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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “abilities api”

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 “abilities api”, 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 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

SteadFast API shows at wp.org #4 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 19 places. Its 8K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 1667 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Enable Abilities for MCP 5K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (195) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too low 5 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too low 6 PixelYourSite – Your smart PIXEL (TAG) & API Manager 400K+ · 4.3★ (281) wp.org #9 ↓3 3 too low 7 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #11 ↑2 4 too low 8 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too low 9 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #6 ↑8 3 too high 10 API KEY for Google Maps 30K+ · 4.9★ (55) wp.org #12 ↓3 2 too low 11 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #21 ↓2 10 too low 12 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #22 ↑1 10 too low 13 JWT Authentication for WP REST APIs 10K+ · 4.4★ (74) wp.org #14 ↓2 1 too low 14 Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #23 ↑1 9 too low 15 Agent Abilities for MCP – Connect Claude and ChatGPT with Permission Controls and Audit Log 800+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #5 10 too high 16 WPGet API – Connect to any external REST API 10K+ · 5.0★ (32) wp.org #17 ↑1 1 too low 17 WebberZone Top 10 — Popular Posts 10K+ · 4.6★ (102) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Disable XML-RPC-API 100K+ · 4.2★ (43) wp.org #15 ↑1 3 too high 19 Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74) wp.org #18 ↑4 1 too high 20 Datafeedr API 4K+ · 4.0★ (13) wp.org #13 ↓3 7 too high 21 R REST API Log 5K+ · 3.6★ (24) wp.org #16 ↑1 5 too high 22 AI 60K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #19 ↓4 3 too high 23 SteadFast API 8K+ · 3.3★ (3) wp.org #4 ↓1 19 too high 24 Abilities Bridge 80+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 4 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.