Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “checkbox”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Login No Captcha reCAPTCHA shows at wp.org #12 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 50K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 63 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 418 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #4 ↑1 3 too low 2 Checkout Field Editor (Checkout Manager) for WooCommerce 400K+ · 4.9★ (1056) wp.org #5 ↓1 3 too low 3 morkva Checkbox Integration 400+ · 4.8★ (12) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #8 ↑1 4 too low 5 Search Exclude 50K+ · 4.8★ (218) wp.org #6 ↑5 1 too low 6 Flexible Checkout Fields for WooCommerce – WooCommerce Checkout Manager 80K+ · 4.7★ (296) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #9 ↑3 2 too low 8 Select All Categories and Taxonomies, Change Checkbox to Radio Buttons 3K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #2 6 too high 9 Checkout Field Manager (Checkout Manager) for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.5★ (784) wp.org #11 ↓5 2 too low 10 Subscribe To Comments Checkbox 100+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #3 7 too high 11 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #17 ↓3 6 too low 12 Advanced Custom Fields: Extended 100K+ · 4.8★ (132) wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too low 13 Redux Framework 900K+ · 4.4★ (273) wp.org #13 ↓5 14 Gravity Booster – Styles & Layouts for Gravity Forms 30K+ · 4.6★ (199) wp.org #19 ↓3 5 too low 15 Cost Calculator Builder 20K+ · 4.5★ (393) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 Campos Checkout Brasileiro para WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #10 6 too high 17 Category AJAX Filter – Posts, Custom Post Types & Product Filter 6K+ · 4.9★ (158) wp.org #22 ↓3 5 too low 18 Public Post Preview 100K+ · 4.6★ (79) wp.org #18 ↓3 19 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 Cart Abandonment Recovery for WooCommerce – Recover Lost Sales with Automated Emails 300K+ · 4.8★ (625) wp.org #20 21 Login No Captcha reCAPTCHA 50K+ · 4.5★ (63) wp.org #12 ↓2 9 too high 22 Title and Nofollow For Links (Classic Editor) 10K+ · 4.5★ (23) wp.org #16 ↑4 6 too high 23 Make Disable Admin Email Verification Prompt 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↑3 8 too high 24 Taxonomy Tags to Checkboxes 700+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 ↓7

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.