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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “aggregate rating”

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 “aggregate rating”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 of the top 20. 4 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

Aggregate Rating Schema Generator for Blogs shows at wp.org #10 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 30+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Seriously Simple Podcasting places #10 on merit, 4.7★ from 330 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Rate My Post – Star Rating Plugin by FeedbackWP 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 WP-PostRatings 20K+ · 4.4★ (178) wp.org #3 4 Autoptimize 800K+ · 4.7★ (1428) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 W WP Customer Reviews 20K+ · 4.3★ (528) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 WPSSO Ratings and Reviews 100+ · 4.8★ (12) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Juicer.io: Effortlessly embed, curate, and aggregate social media feeds into your website 8K+ · 4.2★ (29) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 WP Google Review Slider 30K+ · 4.9★ (373) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too low 9 WP Search with Algolia 7K+ · 4.5★ (24) wp.org #7 ↑5 2 too high 10 Seriously Simple Podcasting 20K+ · 4.7★ (330) wp.org #15 5 too low 11 Xagio SEO & AEO – AI SEO for Google Rankings & AI Visibility 10K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #13 ↑1 2 too low 12 Tagembed: Social Media Feeds and Customer Reviews Widget 9K+ · 3.9★ (62) wp.org #14 ↑2 2 too low 13 Wbcom Designs – BuddyPress Member Reviews 200+ · 4.7★ (18) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 Ultimate Reviews 400+ · 4.1★ (60) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too high 15 VigIA – AI Visibility, Analytics & Control 2K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #20 ↑1 5 too low 16 FluentCart A New Era of eCommerce – Faster, Lighter, and Simpler 9K+ · 4.5★ (46) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 WiserReview Product Reviews for WooCommerce 900+ · 5.0★ (34) wp.org #22 ↑2 5 too low 18 Dynamic AJAX Product Filters for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Aggregate Rating Schema Generator for Blogs 30+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #10 ↓1 9 too high 20 Kitgenix CAPTCHA for Cloudflare Turnstile 700+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #18 ↑2 2 too high 21 MaxX Single Property Schema For Houzez Theme Only 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 ↑1 22 Ultimate Classified Listings – Classifieds, Directory & Marketplace 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↑1 5 too high 23 Trustami Badge for Customer Reviews and Google Stars 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↑1 7 too high 24 Testimonials Block – Customer Reviews, Ratings, Badges & Video Testimonials 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24

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.