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

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 “cards”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 of the top 20. 6 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

Cards for Beaver Builder shows at wp.org #6 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Gift Up Gift Cards for WordPress and WooCommerce places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 235 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 PW WooCommerce Gift Cards 20K+ · 4.7★ (195) wp.org #1 2 Flip Cards Module For Divi 3K+ · 4.9★ (32) wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too low 3 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #8 ↓4 5 too low 4 YITH WooCommerce Gift Cards 10K+ · 3.3★ (53) wp.org #3 ↑3 1 too high 5 Payment Plugins for PayPal WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (127) wp.org #9 ↑15 4 too low 6 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #5 ↑14 1 too high 7 Gift Up Gift Cards for WordPress and WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (235) wp.org #19 ↓2 12 too low 8 Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 Social Preview and Open Graph Tags 50K+ · 4.6★ (122) wp.org #20 ↓2 11 too low 10 Info Cards – Add Text and Media in Card Layouts 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 8 too high 11 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #17 6 too low 12 Recipe Card Blocks Lite 10K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #16 ↓3 4 too low 13 Flexible PDF Coupons – Gift Cards & Vouchers for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.7★ (31) wp.org #18 ↓2 5 too low 14 WebToffee Gift Cards for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.5★ (10) wp.org #7 ↑3 7 too high 15 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #12 ↓5 3 too high 16 Cards for Beaver Builder 1K+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #6 ↑2 10 too high 17 Oracle Cards Lite – Interactive Card Deck Plugin for WordPress 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #10 ↑1 7 too high 18 WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments 800K+ · 3.4★ (177) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 zahls.ch Credit Cards, PostFinance and TWINT for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #24 ↓3 5 too low 20 Card Elements for Elementor 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 Cards Layout – showcase content in responsive card grids 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 ↓2 10 too high 22 Simple Blog Card 3K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 ↓2 23 Flipping Cards 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↓1 10 too high 24 Openpay Cards Plugin 3K+ · 2.0★ (12) wp.org #15 9 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.