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

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 “beach”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 4 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

WeatherBot Weather Widget shows at wp.org #17 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 4 places. Its 40+ 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Travel Engine – Tour Booking Plugin – Tour Operator Software 20K+ · 4.9★ (594) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Snow Monkey Blocks 30K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Colibri Page Builder 80K+ · 4.4★ (80) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 Autobute – Auto Image Alt Text, Title & Caption for Image SEO 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 BonPlaya – Nearby Beaches — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Webtech Beach Reservation Manager Lite — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Gallery for Google Photos – share your albums right on your site 1K+ · 2.7★ (6) wp.org #7 8 Auto Title & Alt Sync 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 9 B BeachFinder Widget — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 10 Rotation Tournaments 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 11 Shipping with ShipSmart for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too low 12 Plantrip Packing List — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 Live Sea Temperature Widget by SeaTempMap — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 Seasonal Popup — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↑1 3 too high 15 AI Data Generator with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Nano Banana 2, Ollama and LM Studio for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 16 Results for Handball4All 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↓3 7 too low 17 DigiFest 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 VividCart – AI Product Images for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓1 19 Simpli Auto Alt Text — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓1 20 Hapnics Buffet and Meals Schedule Calendar — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 1 too low 21 WeatherBot Weather Widget 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too high 22 SunnyTracker Widgets — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 W WHA Tours Core — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1 1 too low 24 Beeking Search — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓1 4 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.