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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “cloud api”

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 “cloud api”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 3 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

LegalWeb Cloud shows at wp.org #14 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 2143 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 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #1 2 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #2 3 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #5 ↓2 1 too high 7 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too low 8 API KEY for Google Maps 30K+ · 4.9★ (55) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 Media Cloud Sync 1K+ · 4.9★ (13) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 too high 10 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #16 ↑1 6 too low 11 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #11 12 WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1915) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too low 13 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #13 ↓3 14 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #18 ↓2 4 too low 15 WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1568) wp.org #19 ↓4 4 too low 16 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #23 ↓1 7 too low 17 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #17 ↑2 18 Offload Media – Cloud Storage 1K+ · 4.4★ (18) wp.org #10 ↓1 8 too high 19 MStore API – Create Native Android & iOS Apps On The Cloud 2K+ · 3.7★ (21) wp.org #12 7 too high 20 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Printus – Automatic Cloud Order Printing for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (27) wp.org #20 ↓2 1 too high 22 Cloud Storage Manager for Fluent Forms – Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, S3 Uploads 400+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too high 23 CoCart – Headless REST API for WooCommerce 900+ · 4.9★ (21) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too high 24 LegalWeb Cloud 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↓1 10 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.