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

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

Chained Selects for Elementor Forms shows at wp.org #5 but places #12 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 50+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Chained Quiz 1K+ · 4.9★ (38) wp.org #1 2 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #2 3 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Quiz Maker by AYS 20K+ · 4.9★ (601) wp.org #6 ↑2 2 too low 5 Jetpack Social 30K+ · 3.3★ (74) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 PPOM – Product Addons & Custom Fields for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.5★ (283) wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too low 7 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 Slider Hero with Video Background, Animation 3K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #17 ↓2 9 too low 9 HT Contact Form – Drag & Drop Form Builder for WordPress 10K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 Who Changed It? – Activity Log & Audit Trail 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #18 ↓1 8 too low 11 M Multiple Category Selection Widget 100+ · 2.9★ (14) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 Chained Selects for Elementor Forms 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 7 too high 13 Chained Selects for WPForms 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 4 too high 14 Hash Form – Drag & Drop Form Builder 3K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 ↓2 2 too low 15 Chained Selects for Chained Selects for Contact Form 7 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 5 too high 16 Import WooCommerce Suite for Products, Orders, Coupons, Reviews, and Customers | WP Ultimate CSV Importer 4K+ · 2.3★ (6) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 Hybrid AI Translator for TranslatePress 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↑4 3 too high 18 T Taxonomy Chain Menu 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Cookie Rocket, Cookie Consent Banner and Script Blocker for GDPR, CCPA and LGPD 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 4 too high 20 CRT Chained Product for Woo — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↑1 21 WWU Right of Withdrawal for Popular Ecommerce Platforms 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓1 22 CookieAz – Ley 21.719 Cookie Consent para Chile 10+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #22 23 2ConnectMe – Video Chat, Screen Share & Stripe Payments 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓1 1 too low 24 AllTerrain Photo Editor – Crop, Resize, Paint & Photo Filters 10+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 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.