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

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 “closing”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 5 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

Breadcrumbs for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #7 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 6K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 13 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

SupportCandy – AI Customer Support Ticket System & Live Chatbot Agent places #4 on merit, 4.9★ from 289 reviews, but shows at wp.org #9. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #2 ↑7 1 too low 2 Head & Footer Code 100K+ · 5.0★ (51) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Woody Code Snippets – Insert PHP, CSS, JS, and Header/Footer Scripts 50K+ · 4.5★ (221) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 SupportCandy – AI Customer Support Ticket System & Live Chatbot Agent 10K+ · 4.9★ (289) wp.org #9 ↑1 5 too low 5 Header and Footer Scripts 200K+ · 4.6★ (58) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 Store Opening Closing Hours Manager 300+ · 4.0★ (5) wp.org #1 5 too high 7 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #10 ↑5 3 too low 8 Delivery & Pickup Date Time for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (282) wp.org #8 ↓1 9 Popup Builder – Create highly converting, mobile friendly marketing popups. 200K+ · 4.7★ (2215) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 WP Popups – WordPress Popup builder 30K+ · 4.9★ (112) wp.org #13 ↓2 3 too low 11 WPC Smart Wishlist for WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #6 ↓1 5 too high 12 Invisible reCaptcha 70K+ · 4.3★ (133) wp.org #15 ↑1 3 too low 13 Minify HTML 10K+ · 4.7★ (33) wp.org #12 ↓4 1 too high 14 Kaya QR Code Generator 10K+ · 4.4★ (38) wp.org #14 ↓1 15 MultiVendorX – WooCommerce Multivendor Marketplace AI Powered Solutions 2K+ · 4.8★ (432) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 Breadcrumbs for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #7 ↓1 9 too high 17 Democracy Poll 6K+ · 4.6★ (86) wp.org #22 ↓2 5 too low 18 Church Content – Sermons, Events and More 3K+ · 4.9★ (49) wp.org #23 ↓6 5 too low 19 SlickNav Mobile Menu 3K+ · 4.8★ (24) wp.org #16 ↓4 3 too high 20 T Themify Popup 8K+ · 4.9★ (11) wp.org #17 ↓3 3 too high 21 Code Embed 10K+ · 4.4★ (45) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22 Booking Package 10K+ · 4.0★ (15) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 forumAttachments for bbPress 6K+ · 4.3★ (26) wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too high 24 Admin login URL Change 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #24 ↓3

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.