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

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 “burst”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 2 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

Init FX Engine – Interactive, Event-Driven, Lightweight shows at wp.org #9 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 80+ 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

My Private Site – Make Your Whole Site Private, Force Login & Block Registration Spam places #7 on merit, 4.5★ from 82 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #1 2 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1668) wp.org #2 3 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #3 4 Koko Analytics – Privacy-Friendly WordPress Analytics 70K+ · 5.0★ (245) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5 Cookie Compliance for WordPress – Cookie Consent, GDPR & CCPA 800K+ · 4.8★ (3026) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Confetti – Celebration Effects for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (49) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 My Private Site – Make Your Whole Site Private, Force Login & Block Registration Spam 10K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #13 6 too low 8 Who Changed It? – Activity Log & Audit Trail 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 Product Badges For WooCommerce 700+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #16 7 too low 10 Sky Addons for Elementor – 160+ Widgets, GSAP Animations, Templates & Theme Builder 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #22 ↓2 12 too low 11 Bot Traffic Shield – Block Bad Bots and Stop AI Bots Crawlers 800+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #15 4 too low 12 Badges Woo 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 1 too high 13 Burst MainWP 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 ↑1 8 too high 14 ConvertNow Analytics: Website Stats, Visitor Statistics, AI Traffic and Bot Filtering 70+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 Reviso – Client Feedback & Approvals for Bricks, Elementor & Gutenberg 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #17 ↓3 2 too low 16 WP Consent API 200K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 9 too high 17 Rs Christmas Santa – Snowfall, Christmas Lights, Holiday Music, Flying Sleigh & Countdown 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 5 too high 18 Social Post Flow – Social Media Automation, Scheduling, Scheduler, Posting & Auto Post 200+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 AI Scraping Protector 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 Init FX Engine – Interactive, Event-Driven, Lightweight 80+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 11 too high 21 SmartMatch Search 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 7 too high 22 BitBot – AI Chatbot, Content Generator, Forms & Leads 70+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 CursorFlex – Stylish Cursor Effects for WordPress 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too high 24 Falling Shapes 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 3 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.