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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “autumn”

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 “autumn”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

Festival Snow Effect shows at wp.org #6 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 60+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Colibri Page Builder places #4 on merit, 4.4★ from 80 reviews, but shows at wp.org #10. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Weather Effect 4K+ · 4.5★ (30) wp.org #1 2 EventPrime – Events Calendar, Bookings, Tickets & AI 7K+ · 4.4★ (85) wp.org #2 3 M Mesmerize Companion 50K+ · 4.4★ (51) wp.org #3 4 Colibri Page Builder 80K+ · 4.4★ (80) wp.org #10 ↓1 6 too low 5 M Materialis Companion 6K+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #5 6 Avalon23 Products Filter for WooCommerce 10+ · 4.6★ (7) wp.org #12 ↑1 6 too low 7 Random Image Block for Block Editor 90+ · 3.8★ (4) wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too low 8 Init FX Engine – Interactive, Event-Driven, Lightweight 80+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 4 too high 9 Falling Cherry Flower 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 Verse of the Day Widget for WP 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓7 5 too low 11 Falling Shapes 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 3 too high 12 Autumn Development Scheduled Page Replacement — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 1 too high 13 Festival Snow Effect 60+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #6 7 too high 14 PixMapr Lite – Interactive Image Hotspots 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↑1 1 too high 15 Season Particles 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓2 1 too high 16 Seasonal Effects & Notice Bar (formerly Halloween Animations) 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓1 17 ExtenderX – Accessibility Toolbar, Dark Mode & Site Tools 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓1 18 LolaCore for FSE 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓2 1 too low 19 DigiFest 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↑3 1 too low 20 AI Data Generator with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Nano Banana 2, Ollama and LM Studio for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓3 1 too low 21 T Toytown Map — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓2 1 too low 22 JeyTech Shipping Cutoff for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓4 1 too low 23 Code Live Snow — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 Obydullah Fashion Store Core — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓3

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.