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

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 “converting”, 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

Popup builder with Gamification, Multi-Step Popups, Page-Level Targeting, and WooCommerce Triggers shows at wp.org #6 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 70K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Templately – Elementor & Gutenberg Template Library: 6500+ Free & Pro Ready Templates And Cloud! places #12 on merit, 5.0★ from 383 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 wp.org
1 Popup Builder – Create highly converting, mobile friendly marketing popups. 200K+ · 4.7★ (2215) wp.org #1 2 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 CartFlows – Funnel Builder & Checkout Plugin for WooCommerce 200K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Advanced Editor Tools 1M+ · 4.5★ (354) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 Converter for Media – Optimize images | Convert WebP & AVIF 500K+ · 4.9★ (1106) wp.org #8 ↓2 3 too low 6 Cart Abandonment Recovery for WooCommerce – Recover Lost Sales with Automated Emails 300K+ · 4.8★ (626) wp.org #5 ↑3 1 too high 7 FunnelKit – Funnel Builder Plugin for WooCommerce Checkout 30K+ · 5.0★ (1028) wp.org #11 ↓2 4 too low 8 Depicter — Popup & Slider Builder 70K+ · 4.6★ (235) wp.org #7 ↑3 1 too high 9 Docket Cache – Object Cache Accelerator 20K+ · 4.9★ (50) wp.org #9 ↑3 10 Cyrlitera – Transliteration of Links and File Names 40K+ · 4.6★ (62) wp.org #10 ↓3 11 Landing Page Builder – Coming Soon page, Maintenance Mode, Lead Page, WordPress Landing Pages 8K+ · 4.6★ (202) wp.org #15 ↑1 4 too low 12 Templately – Elementor & Gutenberg Template Library: 6500+ Free & Pro Ready Templates And Cloud! 300K+ · 5.0★ (383) wp.org #21 9 too low 13 Popup builder with Gamification, Multi-Step Popups, Page-Level Targeting, and WooCommerce Triggers 70K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 too high 14 TinyPNG Image Optimization – Image Compression JPEG & PNG | Convert to WebP & AVIF 100K+ · 4.5★ (181) wp.org #13 1 too high 15 Icegram Engage – Popups, Welcome Bars, Optins, Slide-Ins & Lead Generation for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (370) wp.org #17 2 too low 16 Robin Image Optimizer – Unlimited Image Optimization, WebP & AVIF 100K+ · 4.4★ (131) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 Performant Translations 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too high 18 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce – Color, Image & Size Swatches 200K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #18 ↓1 19 Cyr to Lat Reloaded – Transliteration of Links and File Names 30K+ · 4.5★ (15) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too high 20 Advanced Popups 60K+ · 4.0★ (9) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 Keep Emoticons as Text 700+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too high 22 CryptX 10K+ · 4.5★ (20) wp.org #22 23 Leadpages 10K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Email Address Obfuscation 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) 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.