Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “born”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

RealPress – Real Estate Plugin shows at wp.org #8 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 400+ 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.

Buried gem

LifterLMS – WP LMS for eLearning, Online Courses, & Quizzes places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 393 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Under Construction 600K+ · 4.8★ (1285) wp.org #1 2 Black Studio TinyMCE Widget 200K+ · 4.8★ (191) wp.org #2 3 VikBooking Hotel Booking Engine & PMS 8K+ · 4.8★ (61) wp.org #3 ↑2 4 VikRentCar Car Rental Management System 4K+ · 4.8★ (30) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 Search in Place 3K+ · 4.9★ (64) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Offload, AI & Optimize with Cloudflare Images 1K+ · 4.9★ (33) wp.org #6 7 LifterLMS – WP LMS for eLearning, Online Courses, & Quizzes 10K+ · 4.8★ (393) wp.org #13 6 too low 8 SureRank SEO – Meta Tags, Social Preview, XML Sitemap, Schema & Open Graph 300K+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 SlingBlocks – Gutenberg Blocks by FunnelKit (Formerly WooFunnels) 6K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #5 ↓1 4 too high 10 VikAppointments Services Booking Calendar 500+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #10 11 GeeK! – Movie & Game Database 70+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #14 3 too low 12 VikRestaurants Table Reservations and Take-Away 500+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #12 13 VikRentItems Flexible Rental Management System 600+ · 4.0★ (8) wp.org #9 4 too high 14 ES Football Bypass for Cloudflare 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #16 ↑1 2 too low 15 Auto Capitalize & UPPERCASE Names and Addresses 50+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 RealPress – Real Estate Plugin 400+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 8 too high 17 Synced Pattern Popups 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 ↑1 5 too low 18 Quevedo 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 B Born Creative MCP Server — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too high 20 MC Annual Upcounter 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too low 21 Easy Secure Login – Google One Tap & Sign-In 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too high 22 B bbPress Notification 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 too low 23 Author Kit | Effortlessly Manage author profiles and add modern author bio boxes to posts 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 WP Spider Cache 10+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #18 6 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.