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

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 “concatenate”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

Pressidium Performance shows at wp.org #6 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 100+ 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

AMP WP – Google AMP For WordPress places #11 on merit, 4.5★ from 55 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS 200K+ · 4.7★ (612) wp.org #2 1 too low 2

Merge + Minify + Refresh 3K+ · 4.2★ (68) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too low 3

Hyper Cache 7K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #5 2 too low 4

Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #12 8 too low 5

Ninjalytics: Sales Reports & Order Export for WooCommerce and EDD 6K+ · 4.4★ (57) wp.org #8 3 too low 6

reCaptcha by BestWebSoft 100K+ · 3.9★ (391) wp.org #14 ↑1 8 too low 7

Search & Replace Everything by WPCode – Find and Replace Media, Text, Links, and More 20K+ · 3.9★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #3 ↑1 4 too high 8

SureRank SEO – Meta Tags, Social Preview, XML Sitemap, Schema & Open Graph 300K+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #17 ↓1 9 too low 9 P Page Optimize 200K+ · 3.0★ (5) host-installed base thin reviewslow rating, top placement wp.org #1 8 too high 10

AMP WP – Google AMP For WordPress 600+ · 4.5★ (55) wp.org #21 10 too low 12

Captcha by BestWebSoft – Advanced Spam Protection, Math & OCR-Friendly Captcha for Site Forms 10K+ · 4.1★ (21) thin reviews wp.org #15 ↑3 3 too low 13

Clear Autoptimize Cache Automatically 4K+ · 4.0★ (4) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #7 ↓1 6 too high 14

Conversion Optimization with Exit-Intent Popups and Abandoned Shopping Cart Emails 90+ · 5.0★ (5) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #23 ↑1 9 too low 15

Chessgame Shizzle 100+ · 4.7★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #19 4 too low 16

Pressidium Performance 100+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #6 ↑1 10 too high 17

Sali LLMs.txt Generator — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #9 8 too high 18

ListenUp 10+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #10 8 too high 19

SamedayCourier Shipping 4K+ · 2.7★ (14) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #18 1 too high 20

Flexa Cache — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #11 9 too high 21

Optimize Scripts & Styles 50+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #20 1 too high 22

ShinyStat Analytics 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #13 9 too high 23 I InstaMigrate 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too high 24

Feed2Post – Import feeds as posts and users 40+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews 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.