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

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 “animals”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

SureDonation – Donation Forms, Fundraising Campaigns & Donor Management shows at wp.org #6 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 4K+ 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.

Buried gem

eCommerce Product Catalog places #5 on merit, 4.7★ from 270 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 Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1525) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Sina Extension for Elementor 40K+ · 4.9★ (35) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Cute Animals 30+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Donorbox – Free Recurring Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 8K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too low 5 eCommerce Product Catalog 7K+ · 4.7★ (270) wp.org #15 ↓5 10 too low 6 PetPress 70+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Agile Store Locator 10K+ · 4.9★ (59) wp.org #10 ↓1 3 too low 8 Photo Gallery by Ays – Responsive Image Gallery 1K+ · 4.8★ (19) wp.org #14 ↑1 6 too low 9 Zeffy Donate Button 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #5 4 too high 10 Divine Astro 100+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too low 11 Able Player, accessible HTML5 media player 300+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #7 ↓1 4 too high 12 HT Slider For Elementor 20K+ · 3.8★ (12) wp.org #13 ↑1 1 too low 13 EZ Horoscope Professional 300+ · 4.8★ (12) wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too low 14 PicPoints – Interactive Image Map & Hotspot Builder 70+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #18 ↑2 4 too low 15 SureDonation – Donation Forms, Fundraising Campaigns & Donor Management 4K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 ↑5 9 too high 16 Migrate away from FooGallery 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 ↓1 7 too high 17 Mevabi – Word Search Puzzle Builder 10+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too low 18 Verse of the Day Widget for WP 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 Docs 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↑1 8 too high 20 PetMatchPro 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↑1 1 too low 21 Raptcha 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too high 22 PetBridge 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓1 23 Click Action Sounds – Click Sound Effects for Buttons, Links & Forms 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 24 Migrate away from NextGEN Gallery 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 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.