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

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 “beta”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Elementor Beta (Developer Edition) shows at wp.org #6 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 30K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Transliterator – Multilingual and Multi-script Text Conversion places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 96 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WordPress Beta Tester 2K+ · 4.0★ (47) wp.org #1 2 Pixel Manager for WooCommerce – Conversion Tracking, Google Ads, GA4, TikTok, Dynamic Remarketing 40K+ · 4.9★ (399) wp.org #3 ↑3 1 too low 3 Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too low 4 Enable Media Replace 600K+ · 4.4★ (302) wp.org #4 ↓2 5 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too low 6 J jQuery Updater 20K+ · 4.5★ (64) wp.org #11 ↑2 5 too low 7 Gutenberg 400K+ · 2.1★ (3888) wp.org #7 ↑1 8 Call Now Button – The Free Click to Call Button for WordPress 200K+ · 4.8★ (102) wp.org #18 ↑2 10 too low 9 Genesis Beta Tester 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 ↑1 7 too high 10 WCPOS – Point of Sale (POS) plugin for WooCommerce 5K+ · 3.7★ (84) wp.org #13 ↓2 3 too low 11 Transliterator – Multilingual and Multi-script Text Conversion 3K+ · 4.8★ (96) wp.org #23 ↓6 12 too low 12 Bricks Navigator 8K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #14 ↓2 2 too low 13 WP Attachments – Smarter File Management & Download Lists 3K+ · 4.5★ (43) wp.org #16 ↑7 3 too low 14 NP Quote Request for WooCommerce 8K+ · 4.6★ (87) wp.org #22 ↓8 8 too low 15 Houzez Property Feed 1K+ · 4.7★ (11) wp.org #10 ↑6 5 too high 16 Quick Buy Now Button for WooCommerce 50K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #12 ↑3 4 too high 17 WP Reading Progress 3K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #17 ↑1 18 Enable Abilities for MCP 5K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #19 ↑5 1 too low 19 Elementor Beta (Developer Edition) 30K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 ↓1 13 too high 20 Bazz CallBack widget 3K+ · 4.3★ (33) wp.org #21 ↓2 1 too low 21 WooCommerce Analytics 20K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #9 ↑1 12 too high 22 Snow Monkey Blocks 30K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #20 ↑1 2 too high 23 DSGVO Youtube 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #24 ↓2 1 too low 24 Payment Gateway for Authorize.net for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 9 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.