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

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 “cooking”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 of the top 20. 4 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

Tasty Recipes Lite – WordPress Recipe Card Plugin with Built-In Recipe Schema shows at wp.org #8 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Travel Engine – Tour Booking Plugin – Tour Operator Software places #6 on merit, 4.9★ from 593 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. 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★ (7303) wp.org #1 2 WP Recipe Maker 50K+ · 5.0★ (354) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Cooked – Recipe Management 3K+ · 3.9★ (90) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too high 4 Schema – All In One Schema Rich Snippets 30K+ · 4.0★ (162) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 WP Delicious – Recipe Plugin for Food Bloggers (formerly Delicious Recipes) 4K+ · 4.9★ (71) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 WP Travel Engine – Tour Booking Plugin – Tour Operator Software 20K+ · 4.9★ (593) wp.org #14 8 too low 7 Create 6K+ · 4.3★ (26) wp.org #6 ↑2 1 too high 8 WC Vendors – WooCommerce Multivendor, WooCommerce Marketplace, Product Vendors 3K+ · 4.5★ (188) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 EleSpare – News, Magazine and Blog Addons for Elementor 10K+ · 4.9★ (44) wp.org #16 7 too low 10 Responsive Starter Templates – Elementor Templates & Starter Sites 10K+ · 4.5★ (38) wp.org #10 11 Restaurant Menu and Food Ordering 2K+ · 4.5★ (15) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 News Element Elementor Blog Magazine 400+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #7 ↓1 5 too high 13 Pen 2K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 Tasty Recipes Lite – WordPress Recipe Card Plugin with Built-In Recipe Schema 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 ↓1 6 too high 15 TemplateSpare – 1000+ WordPress Starter Templates & Full Site Migration Tool | 1-Click Import/Export & No-Code Builder 10K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 DineKit – Restaurant Menu, Online Ordering, Table Reservations & POS 80+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 5 too low 17 Taxonomy Query Filter 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 Delisho – Recipe Widgets and Blocks 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 Flowd – Cooking Mode — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 Blog News Addons For Elementor (News, Magazine and Blog Addons) 400+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 Universal Unit Converter: Convert Length, Weight, Temperature, Speed, and Time 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 Listen2It – Text-to-speech audio article 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 Tastoria Recipe Manager — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 24 LogiShield Security – Login Security, 2FA, Limit Login, Brute Force Protection, Firewall — · 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.