Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “commits”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

CTC Masonry Gallery shows at wp.org #11 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring places #6 on merit, 4.7★ from 321 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Quantity Plus Minus Button for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.4★ (30) wp.org #1 2 Min Max Control – Min Max Quantity & Step Control for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.7★ (79) wp.org #2 3 Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP 100K+ · 4.5★ (252) wp.org #3 4 Spotlight Social Photo Feed 60K+ · 4.7★ (171) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce – Color, Image & Size Swatches 200K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #5 6 404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring 100K+ · 4.7★ (321) wp.org #13 7 too low 7 Colorlib 404 Customizer 5K+ · 4.7★ (51) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 M Multi Device Switcher 10K+ · 4.3★ (11) wp.org #4 4 too high 9 C Custom Post Type Widgets 10K+ · 4.8★ (14) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 Daily Prayer Time 1K+ · 4.9★ (96) wp.org #14 4 too low 11 Term Taxonomy Converter 500+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Load Combined Core Block Assets 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 StockPack – Stock photos and AI images from Unsplash, Adobe Stock, Freepik and more 7K+ · 4.4★ (24) wp.org #22 9 too low 14 CM Search And Replace – Optimize content edits with a powerful search and replace tool 2K+ · 4.2★ (15) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too low 16 Layouts for Divi 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #16 ↑1 17 CTC Masonry Gallery 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 Pure Metafields 10K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 Portugal CTT Tracking for WooCommerce 500+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #15 4 too high 20 SCSS WP Editor 800+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 Ordessa – FAQ & Accordion Block with Bulk Add 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 22 W2S – Migrate WooCommerce to Shopify 1K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 ChimpBridge – Create and Send Mailchimp Campaigns 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 My Account Menu Builder for WooCommerce 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 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.