Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 populate”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Auto Populate Country/State/City/Ward DropDown Addon for Gravity Forms shows at wp.org #11 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 20+ installs carry it up the search order; its 1.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Document Gallery places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 112 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 Country State City Dropdown CF7 5K+ · 4.9★ (30) wp.org #1 2 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 Ultra Addons for Contact Form 7 60K+ · 4.8★ (108) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 MetForm – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Conditional Forms, Form Templates & Custom Form Builder for Elementor 500K+ · 4.7★ (509) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too low 7 Depicter — Popup & Slider Builder 70K+ · 4.6★ (236) wp.org #9 ↑2 2 too low 8 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 Head Meta Data 10K+ · 4.8★ (19) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Document Gallery 8K+ · 4.8★ (112) wp.org #19 9 too low 11 Auto Focus Keyword for SEO 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 9 too high 12 E2Pdf – Export Pdf Tool for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (59) wp.org #18 ↑3 6 too low 13 Classified Listing – AI-Powered Classified ads & Business Directory 9K+ · 4.8★ (138) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 Phone Orders for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (32) wp.org #17 ↑1 3 too low 15 Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116) wp.org #21 ↓1 6 too low 16 Dynamic Field for Elementor Forms – Populate Anything 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 12 too high 17 Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools 8K+ · 4.1★ (15) wp.org #15 ↑1 2 too high 18 Ultimate Client Dash 2K+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #16 ↑1 2 too high 19 FormLift for Keap (Legacy) Web Forms 300+ · 4.6★ (12) wp.org #22 ↑1 3 too low 20 Social Post Flow – Social Media Automation, Scheduling, Scheduler, Posting & Auto Post 200+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #20 ↓1 21 HT Contact Form – Drag & Drop Form Builder for WordPress 10K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #14 7 too high 22 ClearPost – AI Auto Blogging & SEO Agent 80+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #13 9 too high 23 Advanced Tools for Gravity Forms 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↑1 24 Auto Populate Country/State/City/Ward DropDown Addon for Gravity Forms 20+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↓3 13 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.