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

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 “addthis”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 5 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

Products Compare for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #4 but places #11 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 18 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Professional Social Sharing Buttons, Icons & Related Posts – Shareaholic places #12 on merit, 4.4★ from 1053 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Insert Html Snippet 20K+ · 4.9★ (237) wp.org #1 2 Social Share Icons & Social Share Buttons 10K+ · 4.9★ (1911) wp.org #2 3 Photo Gallery by 10Web – Mobile-Friendly Image Gallery 100K+ · 4.5★ (1581) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 AMP for WP – Accelerated Mobile Pages 70K+ · 4.4★ (1319) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 iubenda | All-in-one Compliance for GDPR / CCPA Cookie Consent + more 200K+ · 4.7★ (397) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too low 6 Zotabox – 20+ Promotional Sales tools to boost your subscribers and sales 500+ · 4.7★ (41) wp.org #6 ↑1 7 Shariff Wrapper 30K+ · 4.9★ (101) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 Cookiebot – Cookie Banner & Cookie Consent for GDPR, CCPA & Google Consent Mode 100K+ · 4.4★ (440) wp.org #13 5 too low 9 WP YouTube Lyte 20K+ · 4.8★ (206) wp.org #15 ↑1 6 too low 10 Easy Affiliate Links 6K+ · 4.2★ (34) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too high 11 Products Compare for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.3★ (18) wp.org #4 ↓1 7 too high 12 Professional Social Sharing Buttons, Icons & Related Posts – Shareaholic 10K+ · 4.4★ (1053) wp.org #23 ↑1 11 too low 13 Like Button Rating ♥ LikeBtn 3K+ · 4.4★ (273) wp.org #12 ↑2 1 too high 14 connectDaily Events Calendar Plugin 90+ · 4.4★ (17) wp.org #11 ↑1 3 too high 15 GDPR CCPA Compliance & Cookie Consent Banner 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #9 ↑2 6 too high 16 Popular Brand Icons – Simple Icons 3K+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #14 ↑1 2 too high 17 C Child Theme Creator by Orbisius 10K+ · 4.0★ (44) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 KBucket: Your Curated Content in WordPress 10+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 Socials Ignited 2K+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too high 20 BrainCert Virtual Classroom 10+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #20 21 Pagemeter 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 Nightingale Companion 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 C Category Posts Tabber 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 WP Immo 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 5 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.