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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “auto close”

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

Ad Auto Insert H shows at wp.org #6 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 900+ 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

Max Mega Menu places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 882 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Auto-Install Free SSL – Generate & Install Free SSL Certificates 8K+ · 4.9★ (405) wp.org #5 4 too low 2 WPFront Notification Bar 40K+ · 4.5★ (131) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #8 ↑6 5 too low 4 Open Close Store for WooCommerce – Business Hours & Order Scheduling 600+ · 3.4★ (41) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too high 5 Lightweight Accordion 10K+ · 5.0★ (60) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Auto-Close Comments, Pingbacks and Trackbacks 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #1 5 too high 7 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #10 ↓1 3 too low 8 WebberZone Top 10 — Popular Posts 10K+ · 4.6★ (102) wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too low 9 Better Find and Replace – AI-Powered Suggestions 40K+ · 4.6★ (171) wp.org #13 ↓1 4 too low 10 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #19 ↑1 9 too low 11 TermsFeed AutoTerms: Privacy Policy Generator, Cookie Consent, GDPR, CCPA, Terms & Conditions, Disclaimers, Cookies Policy, EULA 70K+ · 4.7★ (246) wp.org #17 ↓1 6 too low 12 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #14 ↑7 2 too low 13 Bit Social – Social Media Auto Poster and Scheduler 6K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too high 14 T Themify Popup 8K+ · 4.9★ (11) wp.org #9 ↓1 5 too high 15 Auto Focus Keyword for SEO 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 ↑1 13 too high 16 Unbloater 5K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #16 ↓1 17 WPB Popup for Contact Form 7 – Showing Contact Form 7 Popup on Button Click 5K+ · 4.6★ (16) wp.org #20 ↓2 3 too low 18 Popup Box – Easily Create WordPress Popups 6K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #21 ↓2 3 too low 19 Wonder Video Embed 4K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #15 ↓2 4 too high 20 WPC Added To Cart Notification for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #18 ↓1 2 too high 21 PopupRoulette 200+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Ad Auto Insert H 900+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 16 too high 23 HTML Editor for Contact Form 7 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 24 AFB – Auto Form Builder: Drag & Drop Contact Forms, Multi-Step Forms, Conditional Logic & AI 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 2 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.