Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “bug report”

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

BjornTech Accounting Report for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #4 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 900+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 10 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Admin Columns places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 1652 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (758) wp.org #1 ↑5 2 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Yoast Duplicate Post 3M+ · 4.7★ (538) wp.org #3 ↓2 4 SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #6 ↑10 2 too low 5 Force Login 30K+ · 4.8★ (101) wp.org #7 ↑5 2 too low 6 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #9 ↑4 3 too low 7 Admin Columns 100K+ · 4.9★ (1652) wp.org #16 ↓5 9 too low 8 Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116) wp.org #8 ↓3 9 Plugin Report 1K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #5 ↓1 4 too high 10 Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172) wp.org #11 ↓2 1 too low 11 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #18 ↓4 7 too low 12 Slim Maintenance Mode 10K+ · 5.0★ (63) wp.org #13 ↓5 1 too low 13 Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.7★ (1071) wp.org #22 9 too low 14 Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP 100K+ · 4.5★ (252) wp.org #10 ↓3 4 too high 15 BjornTech Accounting Report for WooCommerce 900+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #4 ↓2 11 too high 16 Easy Table of Contents 600K+ · 4.4★ (221) wp.org #14 ↑5 2 too high 17 EWWW Image Optimizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1842) wp.org #21 ↓4 4 too low 18 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #20 ↑2 2 too low 19 Co-Authors, Multiple Authors and Guest Authors in an Author Box with PublishPress Authors 20K+ · 4.9★ (114) wp.org #12 ↑3 7 too high 20 Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging 90K+ · 4.8★ (292) wp.org #19 ↑2 1 too high 21 Connect Matomo – Analytics Dashboard for WordPress 60K+ · 4.5★ (95) wp.org #17 ↑3 4 too high 22 GN Publisher: Google News Compatible RSS Feeds 20K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Simply Disable Comments 8K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #23 ↑1 24 CMS ADMINS Security Check Report 400+ · 5.0★ (2) 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.