Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 tracker”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

Royal Links – Affiliate Link Cloaking, Shortener & Tracker shows at wp.org #16 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 50+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Return Refund and Exchange For WooCommerce places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 124 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Stylish Cost Calculator – Quote Generator, Lead Gen & Price Estimator 1K+ · 4.8★ (175) wp.org #1 2 MainWP Dashboard: Self-hosted WordPress Management for Agencies 20K+ · 4.9★ (2354) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 CWILL (Formerly ParcelPanel) – Shipment Tracking, Tracking & Order Tracking for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.9★ (538) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 Cookiebot – Cookie Banner & Cookie Consent for GDPR, CCPA & Google Consent Mode 100K+ · 4.4★ (440) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Trace My IP – Visitor IP Tracker, Stats Analytics & Page Views Counter with Email Alerts 1K+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too high 7 Xagio SEO & AEO – AI SEO for Google Rankings & AI Visibility 10K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #7 8 Shipping Live Rates for USPS for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.7★ (30) wp.org #6 ↑3 2 too high 9 TrackShip for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.7★ (52) wp.org #9 ↓1 10 Shipping Live Rates and Access Points for UPS for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.7★ (77) wp.org #10 11 Return Refund and Exchange For WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.7★ (124) wp.org #18 ↑1 7 too low 12 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #17 ↑3 5 too low 13 Shipping Live Rates for FedEx for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.4★ (27) wp.org #13 ↑2 14 Wedding RSVP – Wedding Guest List, Meal Choices & RSVP Tracker 100+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too high 15 Check for Broken Links – Broken Link Checker & SEO Suite 2K+ · 4.0★ (6) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 Easy!Appointments 500+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #15 ↑1 1 too high 17 AEO God Mode – AI Search Visibility 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 Blockenberg — 645 Advanced Gutenberg Blocks, 683 Templates and AI Agent for WordPress Block Editor 1K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 Shipping Live Rates for DHL Express for WooCommerce 600+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #22 ↑1 3 too low 20 PalmsTrack – WordPress Costs & Subscriptions Tracker 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 Issues Tracker 40+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 ↓1 2 too low 22 Shipping Live rates for Canada Post for WooCommerce 400+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Royal Links – Affiliate Link Cloaking, Shortener & Tracker 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↑2 7 too high 24 RankMetric – SERP Rank Tracker for Google Search, Maps, AI Overview & AI Mode 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 5 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.