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

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 “chinese”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

CookieAdmin – Cookie Consent Banner shows at wp.org #6 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 400K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall places #6 on merit, 4.7★ from 1720 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce 300K+ · 5.0★ (1865) wp.org #1 2 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 Category Order and Taxonomy Terms Order 500K+ · 4.5★ (162) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5 Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1488) wp.org #8 ↓6 3 too low 6 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #11 ↓4 5 too low 7 SSL Insecure Content Fixer 100K+ · 4.8★ (221) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 China Payments Plugin | Accept WeChat Pay, Alipay & UnionPay | Chinese Checkout Optimization 200+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #5 ↑1 3 too high 9 Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too low 10 Disable Emails 30K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #7 ↑1 3 too high 11 Cyr-To-Lat 300K+ · 4.7★ (98) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 Email Encoder – Protect Email Addresses and Phone Numbers 90K+ · 4.9★ (94) wp.org #13 ↓1 14 Table Field Add-on for ACF and SCF 50K+ · 4.9★ (60) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 ICS Calendar 10K+ · 4.9★ (72) wp.org #23 ↓9 7 too low 17 Simple Membership 40K+ · 4.6★ (475) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Simple Yearly Archive 6K+ · 4.7★ (30) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19 Connect Matomo – Analytics Dashboard for WordPress 60K+ · 4.5★ (95) wp.org #18 ↓1 1 too high 20 Better Plugin Compatibility Control 4K+ · 4.3★ (19) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too high 21 Pinyin Slugs 3K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #15 ↓2 6 too high 22 CookieAdmin – Cookie Consent Banner 400K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #6 ↑5 16 too high 23 Admin Management Xtended 5K+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too high 24 Pricing Table – Responsive & Easy 3K+ · 4.2★ (26) wp.org #21 ↓1 3 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.