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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “comment excerpts”

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 “comment excerpts”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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.

R

Ranked above its merit

Recent Comments Widget with Excerpts shows at wp.org #13 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 40+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Ivory Search – WordPress Search Plugin places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 1562 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 100K+ · 4.8★ (215) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 R Recent Comments Widget with Comment Excerpts 100+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Email Address Encoder 100K+ · 4.2★ (160) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too high 7 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #11 ↑2 4 too low 8 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 GenerateBlocks 200K+ · 4.9★ (122) wp.org #9 10 Postie 10K+ · 4.7★ (139) wp.org #10 11 Ivory Search – WordPress Search Plugin 90K+ · 4.9★ (1562) wp.org #18 ↓7 7 too low 12 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too low 13 List category posts 70K+ · 4.7★ (254) wp.org #17 4 too low 14 Decent Comments 1K+ · 4.6★ (20) wp.org #8 6 too high 15 Export All URLs 50K+ · 4.6★ (94) wp.org #16 ↑2 1 too low 16 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 We’re Open! 5K+ · 5.0★ (45) wp.org #22 ↑1 5 too low 18 Simple Sitemap – Responsive HTML Sitemap for WordPress 60K+ · 3.9★ (72) wp.org #21 ↓2 3 too low 19 AI 60K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #12 7 too high 20 P Post Comments as bbPress Topics 300+ · 4.3★ (18) wp.org #23 ↑1 3 too low 21 Remoji – Post/Comment Reaction and Enhancement 300+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too high 22 Dynamic Tags for Elementor 700+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 ↑2 8 too high 23 Comment Experience by Progress Planner 500+ · 3.5★ (13) wp.org #24 ↓3 1 too low 24 R Recent Comments Widget with Excerpts 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↑2 11 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.