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

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 complete”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 18 of the top 20. 4 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

Easy Auto Reload – Auto Refresh shows at wp.org #5 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 1K+ 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

Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 517 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 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #3 ↓1 2 too low 2 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too low 3 LocoAI – Auto Translate for Loco Translate 70K+ · 4.9★ (642) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 Order auto complete for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Fetchify 600+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 too high 6 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #9 ↓5 3 too low 7 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #16 9 too low 8 Auto-Install Free SSL – Generate & Install Free SSL Certificates 8K+ · 4.9★ (405) wp.org #15 ↓5 7 too low 9 Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1012) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 Auto Image Attributes From Filename With Bulk Updater (Add Alt Text, Image Title For Image SEO) 100K+ · 4.8★ (93) wp.org #13 3 too low 11 Blog2Social: Social Media Auto Post & Scheduler 40K+ · 4.5★ (2107) wp.org #18 ↓1 7 too low 12 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #22 ↓1 10 too low 13 SchedulePress – Auto Post & Publish, Auto Social Share, Schedule Posts with Editorial Calendar & Missed Schedule Post Publisher 10K+ · 4.6★ (201) wp.org #19 6 too low 14 CrawlWP SEO – Complete WordPress SEO Plugin with AI, Indexing & Search Performance 30K+ · 4.7★ (62) wp.org #11 ↑1 3 too high 15 Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution 100K+ · 4.4★ (590) wp.org #20 ↓12 5 too low 16 Loginizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1033) wp.org #24 ↓2 8 too low 17 NextScripts: Social Networks Auto-Poster 20K+ · 3.3★ (617) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 Smart Auto Upload Images – Import External Images 5K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #8 ↑1 10 too high 19 BotBlocker Security – Complete security platform 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #10 ↓3 9 too high 20 StoreEngine — Complete eCommerce Solution with Memberships, Licensing, Affiliates & More 700+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 ELEX WooCommerce Address Validation & Google Address Autocomplete Plugin 700+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #17 ↓2 4 too high 22 Easy Auto Reload – Auto Refresh 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 17 too high 23 auto-post.io 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 ↑4 16 too high 24 Order Status Control for WooCommerce 4K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 ↓1 3 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.