Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “bbpress addon”

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 “bbpress addon”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 5 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

LearnPress – bbPress Integration shows at wp.org #2 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 22 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 1.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 142 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 bbPress Notify (No-Spam) 2K+ · 4.8★ (40) wp.org #1 2 wpForo Forum 20K+ · 4.7★ (390) wp.org #5 3 too low 3 UsersWP – Front-end login form, User Registration, User Profile & Members Directory plugin for WP 20K+ · 4.7★ (183) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Import and export users and customers 70K+ · 4.7★ (259) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 rtMedia for WordPress, BuddyPress and bbPress 7K+ · 3.7★ (152) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too low 8 WPeMatico RSS Feed Fetcher 10K+ · 4.8★ (514) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 Invisible Anti-Spam & CAPTCHA — reCAPTCHA Alternative for All Forms 4K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #11 ↑4 2 too low 10 Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots 10K+ · 4.8★ (142) wp.org #17 ↑1 7 too low 11 Points Management System For Gamification, Ranks, Badges, and Loyalty Rewards Program – myCred 10K+ · 4.6★ (472) wp.org #18 ↓7 7 too low 12 LearnPress – WordPress LMS Plugin for Create and Sell Online Courses 70K+ · 4.3★ (597) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 Enlighter – Customizable Syntax Highlighter 10K+ · 4.8★ (65) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 Pie Register – User Registration, Profiles & Content Restriction 1K+ · 4.2★ (222) wp.org #21 ↓1 7 too low 15 Simple Membership 40K+ · 4.6★ (475) wp.org #20 ↑4 5 too low 16 CBX Bookmark & Favorite 1K+ · 4.6★ (49) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 Ninjalytics: Sales Reports & Order Export for WooCommerce and EDD 6K+ · 4.4★ (57) wp.org #24 ↓1 7 too low 18 GD Rating System 1K+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 CBX User Online & Last Login 800+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #15 ↑2 4 too high 20 Export Order Items for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.7★ (9) wp.org #22 ↓1 2 too low 21 Notification : bbPress 40+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 ↑1 13 too high 22 Zen Addons for SiteOrigin Page Builder 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 19 too high 23 QR Code Composer – Automatic QR code generation 3K+ · 4.2★ (9) wp.org #23 ↓1 24 LearnPress – bbPress Integration 2K+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #2 22 too high

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.