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

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

K

Ranked above its merit

Kapost shows at wp.org #17 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Molongui Authorship – Author Boxes, Guest Authors & Co-Authors for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (158) wp.org #1 2 Co-Authors Plus 20K+ · 3.5★ (77) wp.org #2 3 Co-Authors, Multiple Authors and Guest Authors in an Author Box with PublishPress Authors 20K+ · 4.9★ (114) wp.org #3 4 ( (Simply) Guest Author Name 2K+ · 4.7★ (23) wp.org #4 5 Osom Author Pro 1K+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 Landing Page Cat – Coming Soon & Maintenance Pages 600+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #14 ↓1 8 too low 7 Molongui Post Contributors: Multi-Role Contributor Attribution 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 Hide Author Archive 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Author Box & Pages for E-E-A-T Optimization 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too low 10 Eight Day Week Print Workflow 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too low 11 WPSSO Schema Organization and Place Manager 300+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #8 3 too high 12 TruAnon Identity 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too low 13 S Simple Article Byline 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↓1 3 too high 14 ThemeRuby Multi Authors – Assign Multiple Writers to Posts 2K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too high 15 Image and Media Byline Credits 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↓2 6 too high 16 Overrank Content Publisher 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 AIFORYA Multi Author — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓2 2 too low 18 Author Kit | Effortlessly Manage author profiles and add modern author bio boxes to posts 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too high 19 Additional Authors 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too low 20 Sentio Widgets for Elementor 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓2 3 too low 21 O Odiseo SEO Bridge 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Waypoint SEO Content Generator 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 23 EEAT WP 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too high 24 K Kapost 10+ · 2.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓1 7 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.