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

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 “belgium”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

bpost-shipping-platform shows at wp.org #8 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 500+ 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.

Buried gem

LearnPress – WordPress LMS Plugin for Create and Sell Online Courses places #9 on merit, 4.3★ from 597 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #4 3 too low 2 Category Order and Taxonomy Terms Order 500K+ · 4.5★ (162) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Mollie Payments for WooCommerce 100K+ · 3.6★ (69) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too high 4 Simple Membership 40K+ · 4.6★ (475) wp.org #5 ↑4 1 too low 5 Product Customer List for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.9★ (75) wp.org #12 ↑1 7 too low 6 Payment Gateway for PayPal on WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.4★ (73) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 Pronamic Pay 2K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 GF Mollie by Indigo 900+ · 4.9★ (21) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 LearnPress – WordPress LMS Plugin for Create and Sell Online Courses 70K+ · 4.3★ (597) wp.org #21 ↓1 12 too low 10 Keyword Research Tool 700+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #9 ↓2 1 too high 11 WC MyParcel Belgium 600+ · 2.0★ (3) wp.org #1 10 too high 12 Payment Gateway of Stripe for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.4★ (66) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 Footnotes Made Easy 2K+ · 4.6★ (40) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 WC – APG NIF/CIF/NIE Field 10K+ · 4.8★ (23) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 Sina Extension for Elementor 40K+ · 4.9★ (35) wp.org #19 ↑2 4 too low 16 Estimated Delivery for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too high 17 DHL eCommerce (Benelux) for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 ↓1 11 too high 18 Location Pack for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 PostNL for WooCommerce 4K+ · 2.5★ (41) wp.org #11 8 too high 20 Amazon Pay for WooCommerce 10K+ · 2.5★ (27) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 WebToffee EU Order Withdrawal Button for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #22 ↓3 1 too low 22 AmaSync – Amazon Affiliate Plugin, Product Importer for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 too low 23 bpost-shipping-platform 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 15 too high 24 Show State Field for WooCommerce 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↑2 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.