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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “avis clients”

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 “avis clients”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Opinion System note & avis Demo shows at wp.org #1 but places #6 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 30+ 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.

Buried gem

Media Library Organizer – Folders, File Manager & Media Categories places #2 on merit, 4.7★ from 150 reviews, but shows at wp.org #8. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

How this rank is calculated

Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.

A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.

A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.

Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Document Embedder – let visitors read files without downloading 9K+ · 4.9★ (120) wp.org #5 4 too low 2 Media Library Organizer – Folders, File Manager & Media Categories 20K+ · 4.7★ (150) wp.org #8 ↓1 6 too low 3 Guaranteed Reviews Company (Société des Avis Garantis) 900+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Superb Addons: Blocks, Patterns, Pre-built Pages, Sliders, Popups, Free Forms, Animations & More 80K+ · 4.9★ (23) wp.org #9 ↓1 5 too low 5 Restrict WP Upload Type 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Opinion System note & avis Demo 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 5 too high 7 Projectopia – Project Management Tool 200+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #7 ↑2 8 Guest Suite 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #3 5 too high 9 myEasyCompta – Invoicing, Accounting & Quotes Plugin for WordPress 20+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 Fidélité et parrainage 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 GoDAM – Video Hosting for LMS & Online Courses 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 VidLog Video Analytics 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 Storage for EDD via S3-Compatible 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↓3 9 too low 14 ESoftWave Project Manager – Projects, Tasks, Client Portal & Invoices — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 15 Customer Cloud Gallery – Google Drive & Dropbox Image Gallery 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 Synthocode AI Companion — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓1 17 QuickLinks Manager by Press.Zone 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓3 18 Captain Media Shield — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 19 Storage for EDD via Box — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓3 20 Storage for EDD via OneDrive — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↓2 5 too high 21 Media Inventory Forge — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓3 1 too high 22 VideoFlowEngine HLS Streaming — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓3 1 too high 23 Storage for EDD via Dropbox — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓3

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.