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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “browser detection”

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 “browser detection”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 3 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

Fraud and Scam Detection For WooCommerce shows at wp.org #4 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 20 places. Its 200+ 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

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 3220 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Geolocation IP Detection 20K+ · 4.7★ (59) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #3 ↑3 1 too low 3 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #6 ↓1 3 too low 4 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too low 5 SlimStat Analytics – Real-Time Stats, Heatmaps & Ecommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (816) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too low 7 Firelight Lightbox 200K+ · 4.8★ (361) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #17 ↑2 9 too low 9 Loco Translate 1M+ · 4.8★ (453) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too low 10 Perfect Images: Regenerate Thumbnails, Image Sizes, WebP & AVIF 60K+ · 4.8★ (279) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too low 11 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #19 8 too low 12 WP BrowserUpdate 1K+ · 4.6★ (16) wp.org #5 ↓1 7 too high 13 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #15 ↓2 2 too low 14 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #18 ↑3 4 too low 15 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 D Disable Emojis (GDPR friendly) 60K+ · 5.0★ (108) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 Disable Browser Telephone Format Detection 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 16 too high 18 Spam Protection | Maspik 30K+ · 4.7★ (87) wp.org #21 ↓5 3 too low 19 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #14 5 too high 20 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #9 ↓1 11 too high 21 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #23 ↓5 2 too low 22 NinjaFirewall (WP Edition) – Advanced Security Plugin and Firewall 100K+ · 4.9★ (220) wp.org #22 ↑1 23 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #16 ↓1 7 too high 24 Fraud and Scam Detection For WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 ↓1 20 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.