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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “collaborative filtering”

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

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Smart Related Products – AI-Inspired Recommendations for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #1 but places #10 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 900+ 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

EazyDocs – AI Powered Knowledge Base, Wiki, Documentation & FAQ Builder places #8 on merit, 4.7★ from 100 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 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Molongui Authorship – Author Boxes, Guest Authors & Co-Authors for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (158) wp.org #5 3 too low 3 B BuddyPress Docs 6K+ · 4.4★ (35) wp.org #3 4 WP Post Author – Author Box, Multiple Authors, Guest Authors & Custom Avatars 10K+ · 4.2★ (22) wp.org #4 5 FluentCommunity – Ultra-Fast High-Performance Social Network, Community, LMS & Online Courses 8K+ · 4.8★ (96) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too low 6 Open User Map – Interactive Leaflet Maps 10K+ · 5.0★ (70) wp.org #9 ↓1 3 too low 7 WP All Export – Product Export Add-On for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.5★ (24) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 EazyDocs – AI Powered Knowledge Base, Wiki, Documentation & FAQ Builder 2K+ · 4.7★ (100) wp.org #17 9 too low 9 Sugar Calendar – Events Calendar, Event Tickets, and Events Management Platform 10K+ · 4.5★ (24) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too low 10 Smart Related Products – AI-Inspired Recommendations for WooCommerce 900+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 9 too high 11 Juicer.io: Effortlessly embed, curate, and aggregate social media feeds into your website 8K+ · 4.2★ (29) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 WP Advanced Ticket System, Elite Support Helpdesk 100+ · 4.0★ (58) wp.org #20 8 too low 13 PressForward 100+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 Visidea 20+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 ↑6 8 too high 15 SaveTo Wishlist Lite – WooCommerce Wishlist 500+ · 4.2★ (11) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 Social Semantic Recommendation (SOSERE) 10+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #10 ↓1 6 too high 17 Multicollab: Content Team Collaboration and Editorial Workflow 300+ · 3.7★ (10) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too high 18 HelpDesk.com Contact Form 20+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #18 19 Essential Content Types 20K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #15 4 too high 20 D Dashboard Widget for Blocks Collaboratives Notes — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↑1 1 too low 21 TechLabIndia Hybrid Recommender for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too low 22 Ndizi Project Management 10+ · 3.5★ (4) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Personyze: AI Personalization, Recommendations & A/B Testing 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 Kanban for WooCommerce 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓2 1 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.