Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “avoid displaying”

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 “avoid displaying”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Confirm Plus Contact Form 7 shows at wp.org #2 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 7K+ 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

Feeds for YouTube (YouTube video, channel, and gallery plugin) places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 205 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #1 2 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #7 4 too low 4 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Social Feed Gallery 80K+ · 4.5★ (303) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 EasyMedia – Increase Media Upload File Size | Role-Based Upload Limit | Increase Execution Time 70K+ · 4.9★ (99) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Brave – Create Popup, Optins, Lead Generation, Survey, Sticky Elements & Interactive Content 20K+ · 4.8★ (209) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 HUSKY – Products Filter for WooCommerce Professional. MCP is onboard 80K+ · 4.6★ (337) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #4 5 too high 10 Variation Price Display Range for WooCommerce 9K+ · 5.0★ (43) wp.org #10 11 Feeds for YouTube (YouTube video, channel, and gallery plugin) 100K+ · 4.8★ (205) wp.org #16 5 too low 12 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #12 13 Robo Gallery – Photo & Image Slider 40K+ · 4.3★ (406) wp.org #19 6 too low 14 Categories Images 50K+ · 4.5★ (86) wp.org #17 3 too low 15 Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #15 16 Advanced Views – Display Framework – Gutenberg/Elementor/Shortcode 3K+ · 4.8★ (36) wp.org #21 5 too low 17 Iks Menu – WordPress Category Accordion Menu & FAQs 10K+ · 5.0★ (27) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 Confirm Plus Contact Form 7 7K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #2 16 too high 19 Popup builder with Gamification, Multi-Step Popups, Page-Level Targeting, and WooCommerce Triggers 70K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #14 5 too high 20 Qi Blocks 60K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #13 7 too high 21 WP Ultimate Review 60K+ · 3.4★ (17) wp.org #18 3 too high 22 Razorpay for WooCommerce 100K+ · 2.5★ (23) wp.org #22 23 Unagi 800+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Clear Autoptimize Cache Automatically 4K+ · 4.0★ (4) 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.