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

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 ms plugins”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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 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

Kabook Auto Schema & Accordion for Rank Math shows at wp.org #11 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 20+ 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #1 2 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #2 3 wpDataTables – WordPress Data Table, Dynamic Tables & Table Charts Plugin 60K+ · 4.5★ (449) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) wp.org #5 6 NEX-Forms – Ultimate Forms Plugin for WordPress 5K+ · 4.1★ (135) wp.org #6 ↑1 7 Registrations for the Events Calendar – Event Registration Plugin 7K+ · 5.0★ (103) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 WP Data Access – App Builder for Tables, Forms, Dashboards, Charts & Maps 10K+ · 4.9★ (88) wp.org #9 ↑5 1 too low 9 DietPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too high 10 WPO365 | SEAMLESS WORDPRESS + MICROSOFT INTEGRATION (WPO365 | LOGIN) 10K+ · 4.9★ (154) wp.org #12 ↓1 2 too low 11 WPO365 | MICROSOFT 365 GRAPH MAILER 10K+ · 5.0★ (40) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too high 12 SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #14 ↓2 2 too low 13 Easy Watermark 30K+ · 3.7★ (159) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 Beautiful Cookie Consent Banner 40K+ · 4.5★ (95) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 HashBar – Announcement, Notification Bar & Popup Campaign 9K+ · 4.2★ (38) wp.org #19 ↑1 4 too low 16 WP Email Template 2K+ · 3.1★ (35) wp.org #17 ↑2 1 too low 17 Idle User Logout 1K+ · 4.1★ (18) wp.org #20 ↑1 3 too low 18 Alt Text Generator AI – Auto Generate Alt Texts with AltPilot 100+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #16 ↑1 2 too high 19 Simple Digital Clock 🕒 500+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 PDF Forms Filler for CF7 3K+ · 4.8★ (13) wp.org #21 ↑1 1 too low 21 Acadlix LMS – AI Quiz Maker, Online Exam & Course Plugin for WordPress 40+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 LinkMesh: Semantic AI Internal Links for SEO 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 9 too high 23 Kabook Auto Schema & Accordion for Rank Math 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↓1 12 too high 24 Live Data Display 30+ · 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.