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← Rankings

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

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 “bbcode”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 of the top 20. 2 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

Spam Comment Remover shows at wp.org #9 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 100+ 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Antispam Bee 700K+ · 4.8★ (226) wp.org #1 2 Gwolle Guestbook 20K+ · 4.8★ (113) wp.org #5 3 too low 3 forumAttachments for bbPress 6K+ · 4.3★ (26) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #4 5 WP w3all phpBB 200+ · 4.7★ (31) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too low 6 GD bbPress Tools 1K+ · 3.8★ (24) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 Affiliate Super Assistent 1K+ · 4.6★ (36) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 Inline Spoilers 1K+ · 4.6★ (14) wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too low 9 BBForms – Flexible Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, Poll & Custom Forms Editor, now with AI 20+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too low 10 B bbP Signature 100+ · 2.7★ (6) wp.org #6 ↑1 4 too high 11 Samurai Honeypot for Forms 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 1 too low 12 Init Void Shield – Zero-DB, Honeypot, Anti-Spam 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↑2 1 too low 13 C Commentinel Spam Comment Cleaner — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 Carve Markup — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓2 1 too low 15 Spam Comment Remover 100+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #9 6 too high 16 S searchReplace 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓2 17 LanceDesk Form Guard — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓1 18 DamaSoft Antispam — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓1 19 KOZ URL-Only Comment Spam — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 20 WPBetterCodeHighlighting — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 21 S.EE URL Shortener, Text & File Sharing — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓3 22 Stats4U — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓2 23 Yuga AntiMalware — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓2

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.