Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 reports”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 4 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

Sales Tax Reports For WooCommerce shows at wp.org #13 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 800+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 10 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Admin Columns places #9 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 2 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #2 3 Yoast Duplicate Post 3M+ · 4.7★ (538) wp.org #3 4 Force Login 30K+ · 4.8★ (101) wp.org #5 ↑7 1 too low 5 SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 PowerBI Embed Reports 500+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #8 ↑3 1 too low 8 Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 Admin Columns 100K+ · 4.9★ (1652) wp.org #16 ↓2 7 too low 10 Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172) wp.org #10 ↓4 11 Slim Maintenance Mode 10K+ · 5.0★ (63) wp.org #12 ↓2 1 too low 12 Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP 100K+ · 4.5★ (252) wp.org #9 ↓1 3 too high 13 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #18 ↑2 5 too low 14 Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.7★ (1071) wp.org #22 ↓1 8 too low 15 Easy Table of Contents 600K+ · 4.4★ (221) wp.org #14 ↑2 1 too high 16 Co-Authors, Multiple Authors and Guest Authors in an Author Box with PublishPress Authors 20K+ · 4.9★ (114) wp.org #11 ↓2 5 too high 17 EWWW Image Optimizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1842) wp.org #21 ↑1 4 too low 18 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging 90K+ · 4.8★ (292) wp.org #19 20 Connect Matomo – Analytics Dashboard for WordPress 60K+ · 4.5★ (95) wp.org #17 ↑1 3 too high 21 Sales Tax Reports For WooCommerce 800+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #13 8 too high 22 BjornTech Accounting Report for WooCommerce 900+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 Metorik – Reports & Email Automation for WooCommerce 9K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #23 24 Simply Disable Comments 8K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #24

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.