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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “character limit”

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 “character limit”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Limit Post Add-On shows at wp.org #7 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 8869 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #5 ↑3 3 too low 3 R Restrict Usernames Emails Characters 1K+ · 4.5★ (25) wp.org #3 4 Loggedin – Session Manager, Limit Concurrent Logins & Force Logout 8K+ · 4.9★ (112) wp.org #8 ↑1 4 too low 5 WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1568) wp.org #11 6 too low 6 Title Limit for WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.7★ (20) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Spam Protection | Maspik 30K+ · 4.7★ (87) wp.org #9 ↓2 2 too low 8 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #16 ↑1 8 too low 9 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #14 ↓2 5 too low 10 Flexy Breadcrumb 10K+ · 4.7★ (20) wp.org #6 ↓1 4 too high 11 Cyr-To-Lat 300K+ · 4.7★ (98) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #19 ↓1 7 too low 13 WPBruiser Security – No CAPTCHA Anti-Spam & Login Protection 10K+ · 4.6★ (213) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 Advanced File Manager – Ultimate File Manager for WordPress And Document Library Solution 100K+ · 4.8★ (441) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 WYSIWYG Character Limit for ACF 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #1 14 too high 16 List category posts 80K+ · 4.7★ (254) wp.org #20 ↓1 4 too low 17 پارسی دیت – Parsi Date 100K+ · 4.6★ (130) wp.org #17 ↓1 18 AWP Classifieds 3K+ · 4.6★ (301) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 Frontend Post Submission Manager Lite – Guest Post and Frontend Submission Forms 1K+ · 4.5★ (22) wp.org #24 ↓1 5 too low 20 Count Characters, Words and Paragraphs while typing 300+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #12 ↑1 8 too high 21 T Throws SPAM Away 10K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #18 ↑2 3 too high 22 Limit Post Add-On 300+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #7 ↓1 15 too high 23 Category Description for WooCommerce 700+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 Vampire Character Manager 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↑1 11 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.