Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “approved”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Shopper Approved Reviews shows at wp.org #12 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 90+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Strong Testimonials places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 614 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection 5M+ · 4.7★ (1187) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Comment Approved Notifier Extended 500+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Antispam Bee 700K+ · 4.8★ (226) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Customize WordPress Emails and Alerts – Better Notifications for WP 30K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Comments – wpDiscuz 60K+ · 4.7★ (581) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Product Feed Manager for WooCommerce – CTX Feed – Support 220+ Shopping, AI & Social Channels 90K+ · 4.6★ (838) wp.org #9 ↓3 3 too low 7 Manually Approved Reviews for WooCommerce 600+ · 4.3★ (11) wp.org #2 5 too high 8 New User Approve 20K+ · 4.3★ (131) wp.org #7 ↑2 1 too high 9 Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74) wp.org #6 ↑4 3 too high 10 User Switching 200K+ · 4.9★ (238) wp.org #13 3 too low 11 Strong Testimonials 80K+ · 4.8★ (614) wp.org #24 13 too low 12 Authorizer 6K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #10 ↓3 2 too high 13 PublishPress Revisions: Duplicate Posts, Submit, Approve and Schedule Content Changes 10K+ · 4.6★ (66) wp.org #17 ↑2 4 too low 14 Cookies and Content Security Policy 10K+ · 4.9★ (67) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 WC Cancel Order 5K+ · 4.9★ (23) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too high 16 ThinkRank SEO – AI SEO Plugin for SEO & Google Search Console 20K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #19 ↑2 3 too low 17 Affiliates Manager 8K+ · 4.1★ (61) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 WP Approve User 3K+ · 4.2★ (42) wp.org #15 ↓3 3 too high 19 WP Comment Cleaner – Delete All Comments, Disable Comments, Bulk Delete & Remove Comments 20K+ · 4.7★ (58) wp.org #22 ↑1 3 too low 20 Order Approval for Woocommerce 1K+ · 4.8★ (23) wp.org #18 ↓1 2 too high 21 PublishPress Checklists: Pre-Publishing Approval Checklist – Validate Post Requirements 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #21 ↑1 22 Publish To Apple News 4K+ · 3.8★ (25) wp.org #11 ↑7 11 too high 23 Geeky Bot – AI Chatbot & Sales Assistant for WooCommerce 6K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #23 24 Shopper Approved Reviews 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↑2 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.