Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “completed”, we agree with wp.org 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

Order auto complete for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #10 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 9 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

Use Any Font | Custom Font Uploader places #9 on merit, 4.7★ from 1148 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 bbPress 100K+ · 3.9★ (343) wp.org #1 2 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #2 3 Autocomplete WooCommerce Orders 30K+ · 4.6★ (137) wp.org #3 4 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #11 ↓2 6 too low 6 Smart COD for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.6★ (52) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Sidebar Classic Widget Area Manager 100K+ · 4.7★ (1028) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 Uncanny Toolkit for LearnDash 20K+ · 4.8★ (105) wp.org #8 9 Use Any Font | Custom Font Uploader 200K+ · 4.7★ (1148) wp.org #16 ↑3 7 too low 10 WP Webhooks – Automate repetitive tasks by creating powerful automation workflows directly within WordPress 20K+ · 4.7★ (55) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too high 11 Pay with Vipps and MobilePay for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.8★ (13) wp.org #7 4 too high 12 Aurora Heatmap 10K+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #4 8 too high 13 Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172) wp.org #18 ↓4 5 too low 14 Webheadcoder Multi-Step Forms for Contact Form 7 50K+ · 4.2★ (49) wp.org #15 ↑2 1 too low 15 EmailKit – Email Customizer for WooCommerce & WP 70K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 Invoice Payment Gateway for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #17 ↑1 1 too low 17 Repeat Order for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 Easy Actions Scheduler Cleaner 900+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 Order auto complete for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #10 ↑1 9 too high 20 Invoice Gateway for WooCommerce – Invoice Payment Gateway 2K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #21 ↑1 1 too low 21 Aruba Fatturazione Elettronica 800+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 ↑6 7 too high 22 ShopMagic Abandoned Cart Recovery for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 ↑2 23 UseStrict’s Calendly Embedder 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #20 ↑3 3 too high 24 ZS Action Scheduler Optimizer 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.