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

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

WP Comment Notification shows at wp.org #5 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 400+ 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

Ivory Search – WordPress Search Plugin places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 1562 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Comments – wpDiscuz 60K+ · 4.7★ (581) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too low 2 Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection 5M+ · 4.7★ (1187) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 Comment Approved Notifier Extended 500+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 too high 4 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #7 ↓6 3 too low 5 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 Simple Comment Editing 2K+ · 4.8★ (55) wp.org #6 ↑1 7 Ivory Search – WordPress Search Plugin 90K+ · 4.9★ (1562) wp.org #16 ↓1 9 too low 8 WP Comment Cleaner – Delete All Comments, Disable Comments, Bulk Delete & Remove Comments 20K+ · 4.7★ (58) wp.org #8 ↑1 9 Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools 8K+ · 4.1★ (15) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 too high 10 Antispam Bee 700K+ · 4.8★ (226) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too low 11 Customize WordPress Emails and Alerts – Better Notifications for WP 30K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #19 ↓1 8 too low 12 Cookies and Content Security Policy 10K+ · 4.9★ (67) wp.org #15 ↑1 3 too low 13 Comments – GraphComment | AI-Moderated Comment System 400+ · 4.7★ (30) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 Simple Blog Stats 4K+ · 4.9★ (38) wp.org #21 ↓1 6 too low 16 Manually Approved Reviews for WooCommerce 600+ · 4.3★ (11) wp.org #9 ↓1 7 too high 17 WP Notification Bell 700+ · 4.9★ (12) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too low 18 Bulk Delete Comments 5K+ · 3.8★ (13) wp.org #13 ↑1 5 too high 19 Zeno Report Comments 200+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #23 ↓2 4 too low 20 Comment Moderation/Notification Recipients 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #14 ↑3 6 too high 21 WP Comment Notification 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 ↑1 16 too high 22 FluentComments – AJAX Comments, Anti-Spam & Comment Email Notifications 700+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #22 23 ATmosphere 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↓5 6 too high 24 Spam Comment Remover 100+ · 3.0★ (2) 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.