Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “category permalink”

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 “category permalink”, 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

Custom Permalink Editor shows at wp.org #9 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 4K+ 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

Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) places #11 on merit, 5.0★ from 423 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Permalink Manager Lite 100K+ · 4.8★ (176) wp.org #1 2 Remove Category URL – Remove ‘category’ base from category permalinks 40K+ · 4.3★ (61) wp.org #2 3 No Category Base (WPML) 100K+ · 4.5★ (34) wp.org #3 4 Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116) wp.org #4 5 Custom Post Type Permalinks 200K+ · 4.8★ (71) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Premmerce Permalink Manager for WooCommerce 40K+ · 3.9★ (53) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Redirection 2M+ · 4.4★ (703) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #16 8 too low 9 Permalink Manager for WooCommerce 8K+ · 4.9★ (26) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #15 5 too low 11 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #20 9 too low 12 AutoConvert Greeklish Permalinks 40K+ · 4.9★ (26) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125) wp.org #21 8 too low 14 Blog Filter – Post Grid Filter by Category or Tag 7K+ · 4.9★ (81) wp.org #17 3 too low 15 Parsi Date | بسته فارسی ساز وردپرس و ووکامرس پارسی دیت 100K+ · 4.6★ (130) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 WP Better Permalinks 1K+ · 4.9★ (26) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 Simple Discount Rules for Woocommerce 4K+ · 4.6★ (73) wp.org #19 2 too low 18 No Category Parents 6K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 12 too high 19 Collapsing Categories 4K+ · 4.1★ (57) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 Easy Primary Category 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #12 8 too high 21 Disable Media Permalink by Hardweb.it 800+ · 4.1★ (7) wp.org #13 8 too high 22 Custom Permalink Editor 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 13 too high 23 Cyrillic Permalinks 200+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 Default Permalink 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.