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← Rankings

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

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 tracker”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

BaseCloud UTM Tracker shows at wp.org #6 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 90+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Visitor Statistics (Real Time Traffic) places #9 on merit, 4.5★ from 156 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. 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 ↑1 2 HandL UTM Grabber / Tracker 10K+ · 4.8★ (146) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #10 ↑2 7 too low 4 RPB Chessboard 1K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #7 ↑1 3 too low 5 SlimStat Analytics – Real-Time Stats, Heatmaps & Ecommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (816) wp.org #13 ↑9 8 too low 6 Analytics Tracker 900+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 ↓1 4 too high 7 Media Tracker – Track Unused, Duplicate & Used Media 1K+ · 4.2★ (9) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 Alpaca Issue Tracker 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #3 5 too high 9 WP Visitor Statistics (Real Time Traffic) 20K+ · 4.5★ (156) wp.org #21 ↓1 12 too low 10 Events Tracker for Elementor 9K+ · 4.5★ (48) wp.org #11 1 too low 11 Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #23 12 too low 12 Project Manager – AI Powered Project Management, Task Management, Kanban Board & Time Tracker 5K+ · 3.8★ (187) wp.org #20 ↓2 8 too low 13 WP Swiper 4K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #19 6 too low 14 Podlove Podcast Publisher 3K+ · 4.3★ (45) wp.org #14 ↓1 15 Trace My IP – Visitor IP Tracker, Stats Analytics & Page Views Counter with Email Alerts 1K+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #15 ↓1 16 User Login History 10K+ · 4.6★ (29) wp.org #17 1 too low 17 W WP Force Lowercase URLs 6K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #12 5 too high 18 M Multi Device Switcher 10K+ · 4.3★ (11) wp.org #18 ↓2 19 CommonsBooking 200+ · 4.8★ (6) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too high 20 BaseCloud UTM Tracker 90+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 ↑1 14 too high 21 Source Medium Tracker for Contact Form 7 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 ↑1 13 too high 22 Remote Website Management by Watchful 3K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 UTM Tracker for Gravity Forms 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↑1 14 too high 24 LLM Bot Tracker – AI Crawler Detection & Analytics 1K+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↓1 2 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.