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

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 fill”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Auto Focus Keyword for SEO shows at wp.org #2 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #4 ↑1 3 too low 2 Ultra Addons for Contact Form 7 60K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 Auto Alt Text 4K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #6 ↓3 2 too low 5 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #9 ↓2 4 too low 6 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #14 ↑1 8 too low 7 Master Slider – Responsive Touch Slider 60K+ · 4.6★ (504) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too low 8 Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too high 9 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #16 7 too low 10 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #20 10 too low 11 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #23 ↓1 12 too low 12 Nexter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder & AI Website Builder 9K+ · 4.8★ (90) wp.org #12 13 Fetchify 600+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #5 ↑1 8 too high 14 Auto Focus Keyword for SEO 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 12 too high 15 Go Fetch Jobs (for WP Job Manager) 600+ · 4.5★ (28) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too low 16 EasyFonts – Host Google Fonts Locally, Fast & Auto-Optimize, GDPR Compliant 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #11 ↑1 5 too high 17 Autocomplete Google Address 2K+ · 4.0★ (25) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too low 18 Faview – Virtual Reviews for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.6★ (54) wp.org #24 ↓1 6 too low 19 Auto Cloudinary 200+ · 4.4★ (14) wp.org #22 ↓3 3 too low 20 Auto Fill Image Meta 30+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #10 10 too high 21 Autocomplete Google places 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #18 ↓1 3 too high 22 ClearPost – AI Auto Blogging & SEO Agent 80+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too high 23 HTML Editor for Contact Form 7 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 10 too high 24 AFB – Auto Form Builder: Drag & Drop Contact Forms, Multi-Step Forms, Conditional Logic & AI 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↓1 9 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.