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

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 “bucket”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

S3 Image Optimizer shows at wp.org #8 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 100+ 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

Booster for WooCommerce – PDF Invoices, Abandoned Cart, Variation Swatches & 100+ Tools places #10 on merit, 4.6★ from 535 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 File Manager 1M+ · 4.6★ (1492) wp.org #1 2 Advanced File Manager – Ultimate File Manager for WordPress And Document Library Solution 100K+ · 4.8★ (441) wp.org #2 3 WP Offload Media Lite for Amazon S3, DigitalOcean Spaces, and Google Cloud Storage 30K+ · 3.7★ (115) wp.org #3 4 Offload Media – Cloud Storage 1K+ · 4.4★ (18) wp.org #4 5 Media Cloud Sync 1K+ · 4.9★ (13) wp.org #5 6 Advanced Media Offloader – Offload Media to Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2, DigitalOcean Spaces & More 7K+ · 4.7★ (48) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Quttera ThreatSign – Web Malware Scanner for WordPress 10K+ · 3.9★ (47) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Advanced Coupons for WooCommerce – BOGO, Store Credit & WooCommerce Coupons 20K+ · 4.4★ (184) wp.org #21 13 too low 9 FluentCart A New Era of eCommerce – Faster, Lighter, and Simpler 9K+ · 4.5★ (46) wp.org #17 8 too low 10 Booster for WooCommerce – PDF Invoices, Abandoned Cart, Variation Swatches & 100+ Tools 30K+ · 4.6★ (535) wp.org #24 14 too low 11 WP-Stateless – Google Cloud Storage 4K+ · 3.9★ (51) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 Export WordPress Pages to Static HTML & PDF — Static Site Export 4K+ · 3.8★ (51) wp.org #15 3 too low 13 Storage for Woo via S3-Compatible 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 Transferito: WP Migration 300+ · 4.5★ (16) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 App for Cloudflare® 1K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 CPW Media Offload for Cloudflare R2 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 6 too high 17 Yctvn Media Offload for Cloudflare R2 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 Storage for EDD via S3-Compatible 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 Thumbnail Editor 600+ · 3.0★ (5) wp.org #14 5 too high 20 A little more secure 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 9 too high 21 S3 Image Optimizer 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 13 too high 22 Static Porter 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 10 too high 23 A Alios Media Offload 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 24 A Alphabetical Pagination 30+ · 2.3★ (3) 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.