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

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 “cfs”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 4 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

Easy IP Blocker shows at wp.org #6 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 400+ 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

NotificationX – FOMO, Live Sales Notification, WooCommerce Sales Popup, GDPR, Social Proof, Announcement Banner & Floating Notification Bar places #4 on merit, 4.8★ from 227 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 R Really Simple CSV Importer 40K+ · 4.9★ (107) wp.org #1 2 WP Sitemap Page 200K+ · 4.8★ (205) wp.org #2 3 Transliterator – Multilingual and Multi-script Text Conversion 3K+ · 4.8★ (95) wp.org #3 4 NotificationX – FOMO, Live Sales Notification, WooCommerce Sales Popup, GDPR, Social Proof, Announcement Banner & Floating Notification Bar 30K+ · 4.8★ (227) wp.org #12 ↑1 8 too low 5 FAZ Cookie Manager 2K+ · 5.0★ (27) wp.org #9 ↓5 4 too low 6 Product Table for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.8★ (294) wp.org #13 ↑1 7 too low 7 WPMathPub 300+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #4 ↑1 3 too high 8 Accept PayPal Payments using Contact Form 7 600+ · 3.6★ (26) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too low 9 Geo Controller 1K+ · 4.4★ (31) wp.org #21 12 too low 10 Campi Moduli Italiani 500+ · 4.7★ (6) wp.org #7 ↑2 3 too high 11 BotBlocker Security – Complete security platform 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #14 ↑1 3 too low 12 Live Carts for WooCommerce: Track Active, Abandoned, and Converted Carts & Wishlists in Real Time! 800+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #8 ↑2 4 too high 13 C3 Cloudfront Cache Controller 3K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too high 14 Repeater for Contact Form 7 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 ↑1 9 too high 15 ES Football Bypass for Cloudflare 60+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #15 ↑3 16 Easy IP Blocker 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 ↑1 10 too high 17 Eazy CF Captcha 500+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 Real IP Restore for Cloudflare 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 2 too high 19 atshift Fields (Maintenance for Custom Field Suite) 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↑3 1 too high 20 Lookit Cloudflare Cache Purge 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↑3 2 too low 21 CWeb Form Protection with Turnstile for Elementor Forms 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 J JTZL's In-Browser Cache 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 CF LLMS Stats Tracker 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 Magic Featured Image Generator (AI Generated) 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 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.