Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “automatic cart empty”

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 “automatic cart empty”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 7 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

Remove Cart Products shows at wp.org #6 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 1267 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 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #1 2 Simple Shopping Cart 10K+ · 4.6★ (215) wp.org #2 3 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #9 6 too low 4 FluentCart A New Era of eCommerce – Faster, Lighter, and Simpler 9K+ · 4.5★ (46) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 Sunshine Photo Cart – Client Photo Gallery & Photo Proofing for Photographers 1K+ · 4.7★ (138) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #13 ↑1 7 too low 7 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3004) wp.org #16 8 too low 9 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591) wp.org #19 10 too low 10 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #23 ↑1 13 too low 11 Minimum Purchase Amount For Woo Cart – For WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.7★ (9) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 too high 12 Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too low 13 Booster for WooCommerce – PDF Invoices, Abandoned Cart, Variation Swatches & 100+ Tools 30K+ · 4.6★ (535) wp.org #17 4 too low 14 WP EasyCart: Shopping Cart and eCommerce Store 3K+ · 4.5★ (206) wp.org #21 ↓1 7 too low 15 CartPops – WooCommerce Side Cart, Cart Drawer & Cart Popup 4K+ · 4.2★ (26) wp.org #8 7 too high 16 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #10 6 too high 17 Linguise – AI Automatic Multilingual Translation 1K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #20 ↑2 3 too low 18 Cart recovery for WordPress 100+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 Remove Cart Products 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 13 too high 20 Magical Shop Builder – WooCommerce Template Builder for Elementor | Shop, Cart, Checkout & Product Page Builder 3K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #22 ↑1 2 too low 21 Caddy – WooCommerce Side Cart & Free Shipping Bar 3K+ · 3.9★ (20) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 RaCar Clear Cart for WooCommerce 400+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #12 10 too high 23 Email Inquiry & Cart Options for WooCommerce 800+ · 3.2★ (20) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 Share Cart for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 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.