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← Rankings

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

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 “artifacts”, 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

Plug-N-Meet web conference integration shows at wp.org #6 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.5★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Dark Mode – Improve Accessibility with AI Powered Dark Theme places #3 on merit, 4.5★ from 391 reviews, but shows at wp.org #7. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 User Admin Simplifier 10K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too low 2 PowerBI Embed Reports 500+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 Dark Mode – Improve Accessibility with AI Powered Dark Theme 20K+ · 4.5★ (391) wp.org #7 ↑2 4 too low 4 WP Inventory Manager 1K+ · 4.6★ (32) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 Compromise Scanner for wp2shell 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #1 4 too high 6 miniOrange Embed Files for SharePoint/OneDrive 700+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #10 ↑5 4 too low 7 Responsive Navigation Block 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #11 ↑1 4 too low 8 JumpsuitAI – llms.txt + Markdown Endpoints 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 ↑1 3 too high 9 Alma – Pay in installments or later for WooCommerce 1K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 Multi Location Product & Inventory Management for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #23 13 too low 11 Web Pixel Studio Cookie Consent for EU 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 ↑2 3 too low 12 Peak Publisher 10+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 ↓10 9 too low 13 UltimaTour Contact Forms 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 ↑1 1 too high 14 AJ Agent Crawl Optimizer – AI Readiness Scanner & llms.txt for WordPress 30+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 ↑3 5 too low 15 Free Widgets For Elementor 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↑1 2 too high 16 BotCreds Agent Artifacts — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 ↑1 7 too high 17 Plug-N-Meet web conference integration 100+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #6 ↑1 11 too high 18 MarkuClean – AI Text Cleaner & Unicode Fixer 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↓13 3 too high 19 PreviewShare 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 Agentic Bridge — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↑1 3 too high 21 MDI Phrase Finder & Hidden AI Copy Detection 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too low 22 IBANTEST for WooCommerce 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↑1 4 too high 23 Imaxel editors for WooCommerce 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 CatalogIt Collections Publisher 30+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↑1 8 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.