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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “black wordpress”

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 “black wordpress”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #10 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.5★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Reset places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 1014 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Black Studio TinyMCE Widget 200K+ · 4.8★ (191) wp.org #1 2 Hustle – Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Optins, Popups 80K+ · 4.4★ (859) wp.org #2 3 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5 Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too high 6 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 MainWP Dashboard: Self-hosted WordPress Management for Agencies 20K+ · 4.9★ (2354) wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too low 8 HurryTimer – An Scarcity and Urgency Countdown Timer for WordPress & WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.8★ (170) wp.org #11 ↑2 3 too low 9 Blackhole for Bad Bots 30K+ · 4.7★ (148) wp.org #14 5 too low 10 WP Reset 300K+ · 4.8★ (1014) wp.org #20 10 too low 11 Advanced WordPress Backgrounds 30K+ · 4.8★ (44) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too low 12 Black Bar 500+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #6 6 too high 13 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #23 10 too low 14 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #8 6 too high 15 Really Simple CAPTCHA 300K+ · 4.2★ (131) wp.org #19 ↓2 4 too low 16 WPVR – 360 Panorama viewer and Virtual Tour Builder for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (133) wp.org #24 ↓6 8 too low 17 SEO Engine – Smart SEO with AI, Schema & Redirection for WordPress 1K+ · 4.9★ (48) wp.org #18 ↑4 1 too low 18 Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74) wp.org #17 ↑7 1 too high 19 FV Flowplayer Video Player 10K+ · 4.4★ (90) wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too high 20 Quiz Cat – WordPress Quiz Plugin 4K+ · 4.7★ (35) wp.org #22 ↑1 2 too low 21 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #16 5 too high 22 Hide Admin Bar Based on User Roles – Disable the WordPress Toolbar by Role or Capability 20K+ · 3.9★ (20) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals for WooCommerce 100+ · 3.5★ (6) wp.org #10 ↓1 13 too high 24 NACC WordPress Plugin 100+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.