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← Rankings

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

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 “beer”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 3 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

WT Catalog shows at wp.org #10 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 4 places. Its 20+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Cyr-To-Lat 300K+ · 4.7★ (98) wp.org #1 2 Age Gate 40K+ · 4.6★ (64) wp.org #2 3 Smart Grid-Layout Design for Contact Form 7 10K+ · 4.5★ (72) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 B Blog-in-Blog 800+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Re-post Activity for BuddyPress 80+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 BeerXML Shortcode 100+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Audio Comparison Lite 40+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too low 8 Easy Duplicate Product for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too high 9 Easy Age Verify 1K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #6 ↑1 3 too high 10 Simple Category List 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 Beer Blocks 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 Free Product Samples for WooCommerce – Try Before You Buy, Request Samples by Mail 60+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #12 ↓1 13 Multi Uploader for Gravity Forms 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 WT Catalog 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↑2 4 too high 15 Coder Block 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 16 I ImageMenu 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 17 U Untappd Ratings for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 18 Beverage Finder by Taps + Tables — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 19 Hillebrand Gori eShipping for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 20 Blueforce Age Check for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 21 Cheyytec Restaurant Menu Board – Food, Cafe & Coffee Shop Menu with Prices — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↑1 22 Cool Payment Gateway Getnet for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 Cool Payment Gateway Discounts for Woo — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓1 24 Digitizer Shabbat Keeper — · 0.0★ (0) 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.