Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “cost”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 8 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

Cost Calculator for Elementor shows at wp.org #4 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 500+ 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

Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce places #8 on merit, 4.7★ from 1071 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Cost Calculator Builder 20K+ · 4.5★ (393) wp.org #1 2 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 Cost of Goods: Product Cost & Profit Calculator for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.7★ (41) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Stylish Cost Calculator – Quote Generator, Lead Gen & Price Estimator 1K+ · 4.8★ (175) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too low 5 Weight Based Shipping Table Rate for WooCommerce – Flexible Shipping 100K+ · 4.9★ (706) wp.org #14 ↓4 9 too low 6 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #15 ↓1 9 too low 7 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #16 9 too low 8 Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.7★ (1071) wp.org #24 16 too low 9 MainWP Dashboard: Self-hosted WordPress Management for Agencies 20K+ · 4.9★ (2354) wp.org #23 14 too low 10 Advanced Free Shipping for WooCommerce 40K+ · 4.8★ (122) wp.org #19 9 too low 11 Cost Calculator for Contact Form 7 – Price Calculator Free 5K+ · 3.8★ (15) wp.org #5 6 too high 12 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #9 ↑12 3 too high 13 Min and Max Quantity for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.8★ (218) wp.org #22 ↓3 9 too low 14 Zigaform – Price Calculator & Cost Estimation Form Builder Lite 100+ · 4.6★ (23) wp.org #20 ↓2 6 too low 15 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too high 16 Freight Shipping Quote – Simplify Shipping Cost Requests 300+ · 4.7★ (16) wp.org #18 ↓1 2 too low 17 Cost Calculator for Elementor 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 ↓1 13 too high 18 Cost Calculator & Cost Estimation 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #7 ↓1 11 too high 19 Shipping Cost on Product Page Calculator for WooCommerce 300+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #8 11 too high 20 Product Assembly / Gift Wrap / … Cost for WooCommerce 300+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #17 ↓2 3 too high 21 Cost of Shipping for WooCommerce 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 10 too high 22 N Ni Cost of Goods for WooCommerce 200+ · 3.5★ (4) wp.org #12 ↑1 10 too high 23 Cost Calculator for WPForms 100+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #10 ↓1 13 too high 24 Cost Calculator for Contact Form 7 80+ · 2.0★ (1) wp.org #21 3 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.