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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “at internet”

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 “at internet”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 3 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

WSA – Website Accelerator Cache Purge shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 200+ 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

SSL Zen — SSL Certificate Installer & HTTPS Redirects places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 665 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Internet Archive Wayback Machine Link Fixer 1K+ · 3.8★ (8) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Docket Cache – Object Cache Accelerator 20K+ · 4.9★ (50) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 WPS Limit Login 100K+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 Cloudflare 200K+ · 3.5★ (181) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 SSL Zen — SSL Certificate Installer & HTTPS Redirects 9K+ · 4.9★ (665) wp.org #22 13 too low 10 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #19 9 too low 11 D Disable "BIG Image" Threshold 10K+ · 4.2★ (35) wp.org #15 4 too low 12 Radio Station by netmix® – Manage and play your Show Schedule in WordPress! 1K+ · 4.6★ (30) wp.org #12 13 Archivarix External Images Importer 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 MOBILOOK — Mobile View & Mobile‑Friendly Test 1K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 BjornTech Swish for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.6★ (20) wp.org #17 2 too low 16 Kargo Takip, Kargo SMS, İlçe Mahalle Sözleşme by Hezarfen 2K+ · 5.0★ (43) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 Wonder Video Embed 4K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #9 8 too high 18 B Bulglish Permalinks 3K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #14 4 too high 19 APCu Manager 10K+ · 4.6★ (20) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 GDPRess | Eliminate external requests to increase GDPR compliance 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 MakeCommerce for WooCommerce 3K+ · 3.6★ (8) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 WSA – Website Accelerator Cache Purge 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 14 too high 23 Browser Theme Color – Address Bar Color & Dark Mode 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 10 too high 24 Tochka Bank: Internet-acquiring 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 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.