wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “baking”
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 “baking”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 3 of the top 16. 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
DirectoryPress – Business Directory And Classified Ad Listing shows at wp.org #2 but places #7 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 600+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Tasty Recipes Lite – WordPress Recipe Card Plugin with Built-In Recipe Schema 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #1 2 
Simple Yearly Archive 6K+ · 4.7★ (30)
wp.org #9 7 too low 3 
RSS for Yandex Zen 4K+ · 4.7★ (30)
wp.org #10 7 too low 4 
Structured llms.txt 10+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviewslow rating, top placement
wp.org #3 1 too high 5 
Pizza2Calc Dough Calculator — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviewslow rating, top placement
wp.org #4 1 too high 6 
Sigilet – Open Badges Issuer & Digital Certificates — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviewslow rating, top placement
wp.org #5 1 too high 7 DirectoryPress – Business Directory And Classified Ad Listing 600+ · 3.0★ (2) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviewslow rating, top placement
wp.org #2 5 too high 8 
Limeboom Spin Wheel — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews
wp.org #6 2 too high 9 
Recipes Manager – PN — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews
wp.org #7 2 too high 10 
WebDecoy Bot Detection – Block AI Crawlers, Spam Bots & Card Testing — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews
wp.org #8 2 too high 11 W WPSecureOps Connector 80+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews
wp.org #11 12 
Recipe Block 700+ · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviews
wp.org #12 13 
Markdown Renderer for GitHub 50+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews
wp.org #13 14 
enhancely.ai — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews
wp.org #14 15 W WPDevHub Recipe Catalog — · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviews
wp.org #15 16 
Food Business Gross Profit Calculator Plugin 10+ · 5.0★ (1) throws errorsnot PHP-currentclosure risk thin reviews
wp.org #16 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.