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

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 transfer”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 5 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

Interac e-Transfer / Email Money Transfer (EMT) Gateway for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #7 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 300+ 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

Points Management System For Gamification, Ranks, Badges, and Loyalty Rewards Program – myCred places #12 on merit, 4.6★ from 471 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 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4823) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 SiteGround Migrator 80K+ · 4.3★ (401) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2466) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1639) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4937) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7506) wp.org #6 7 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – The Most Popular SMTP and Email Log Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (5196) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce 300K+ · 5.0★ (1863) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too low 9 Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution 100K+ · 4.4★ (589) wp.org #14 ↓1 5 too low 10 Prime Mover – Backup and Migration 10K+ · 5.0★ (140) wp.org #18 8 too low 11 Wallet for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.7★ (188) wp.org #12 ↑2 1 too low 12 Points Management System For Gamification, Ranks, Badges, and Loyalty Rewards Program – myCred 10K+ · 4.6★ (471) wp.org #22 ↑1 10 too low 13 Scheduled & Automatic Order Status Controller for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #9 4 too high 14 Mercado Pago payments for WooCommerce 100K+ · 3.9★ (693) wp.org #19 ↑1 5 too low 15 Direct Payments for WooCommerce – Bank Transfer, Mobile Money, Crypto and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Payments 800+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #8 7 too high 16 Payment Gateway for PayPal on WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.4★ (73) wp.org #20 ↑1 4 too low 17 Legal Text Connector of the IT-Recht Kanzlei 10K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #10 7 too high 18 Paystack WooCommerce Payment Gateway 30K+ · 4.5★ (25) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 Google for WooCommerce 800K+ · 2.7★ (267) wp.org #16 3 too high 20 Interac e-Transfer / Email Money Transfer (EMT) Gateway for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #7 13 too high 21 Hostinger Tools 3M+ · 3.5★ (40) wp.org #21 ↓2 22 Automatic Multilingual AI Translation by Autoglot 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 Open Migration – Unlimited Site Transfer & Backup 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓1 24 Automatic FFL 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.