Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “cake”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

AnyTrack Affiliate Link Manager shows at wp.org #12 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 100+ 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

PPOM – Product Addons & Custom Fields for WooCommerce places #5 on merit, 4.5★ from 283 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Recipe Maker 50K+ · 5.0★ (356) wp.org #1 2 Imagify Image Optimization: Optimize Images | Compress & Convert to WebP/AVIF 900K+ · 4.3★ (1657) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Page Builder: Pagelayer – Drag and Drop website builder 400K+ · 3.9★ (104) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Glossary 2K+ · 4.7★ (84) wp.org #4 5 PPOM – Product Addons & Custom Fields for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.5★ (283) wp.org #11 6 too low 6 Smart Grid-Layout Design for Contact Form 7 10K+ · 4.5★ (72) wp.org #8 ↑2 2 too low 7 MyCryptoCheckout – Bitcoin, Ethereum, and 100+ altcoins for WooCommerce 8K+ · 4.3★ (49) wp.org #7 8 Order Delivery Date for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.3★ (61) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 NOWPayments for WooCommerce – Crypto Payment Gateway 3K+ · 4.1★ (16) wp.org #5 4 too high 10 Product Input Fields for WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.0★ (17) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 Product Delivery Date for WooCommerce – Lite 1K+ · 4.1★ (13) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too low 12 GG Woo Feed for WooCommerce Shopping Feed on Google and Other Channels 1K+ · 4.5★ (12) wp.org #14 ↑1 2 too low 13 Order Limit for WooCommerce (Free Version) 800+ · 4.2★ (13) wp.org #17 ↑1 4 too low 14 Medialist 800+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #16 ↑1 2 too low 15 WPC Product Size Chart for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #10 ↓2 5 too high 16 stepFORM: Plugin for Building Contact Forms, Advanced Multi-Step Forms, Payment Integration, and Custom Contact Form Solutions 100+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #21 ↑2 5 too low 17 Salevo Boost Sales for WooCommerce – Set up Up-Sells & Cross-Sells Popups & Auto Apply Coupon 200+ · 3.4★ (9) wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too low 18 Lemon Squeezy — Sell Digital Products, Subscriptions, and Licenses 500+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #15 ↑1 3 too high 19 HT Portfolio – WordPress Portfolio Plugin for Elementor 300+ · 3.0★ (4) wp.org #18 ↑1 1 too high 20 AnyTrack Affiliate Link Manager 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 ↑1 8 too high 21 Structured llms.txt 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 Xpro Portfolio For Beaver Builder – Lite 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 too low 23 8Pay Payment Gateway 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 DirectoryPress – Business Directory And Classified Ad Listing 600+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↑1 4 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.