Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “count visitor”

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 “count visitor”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 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

Counter live visitors for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #3 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 4K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Rich Showcase for Google Reviews places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 1623 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #4 ↑8 3 too low 2 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #5 3 too low 3 Page View Count 10K+ · 4.0★ (55) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Visitor Traffic Real Time Statistics 30K+ · 4.1★ (233) wp.org #6 ↑2 2 too low 5 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #10 ↑1 5 too low 6 Post Views Counter 100K+ · 4.9★ (1236) wp.org #15 9 too low 7 Visitor Count by MrStar 400+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #1 6 too high 8 Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167) wp.org #12 ↑3 4 too low 9 Rich Showcase for Google Reviews 100K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #19 10 too low 10 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #18 7 too low 12 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #20 8 too low 13 Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups 20K+ · 4.9★ (701) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (758) wp.org #17 3 too low 15 Redirection 2M+ · 4.4★ (703) wp.org #16 ↑1 1 too low 16 Document Embedder – let visitors read files without downloading 9K+ · 4.9★ (120) wp.org #11 ↑5 5 too high 17 PDF Poster – Let visitors read PDF’s without leaving the page 20K+ · 4.5★ (149) wp.org #14 ↓1 3 too high 18 Counter live visitors for WooCommerce 4K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #3 15 too high 19 Trace My IP – Visitor IP Tracker, Stats Analytics & Page Views Counter with Email Alerts 1K+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #8 ↑2 11 too high 20 Count Characters, Words and Paragraphs while typing 300+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #7 13 too high 21 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too low 22 Init View Count – AI-Powered, Trending, REST API 80+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #13 ↑1 9 too high 23 Social Share Block – Help Visitors Spread Your Content Everywhere 2K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #21 ↓3 2 too high 24 Review Stars Count For WooCommerce 50+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↑1 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.