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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “counter mark”

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 “counter mark”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

Counter-Hits shows at wp.org #3 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content places #8 on merit, 4.5★ from 565 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 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #1 2 Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1526) wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too low 3 Post Pay Counter 1K+ · 4.8★ (46) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 MetForm – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Conditional Forms, Form Templates & Custom Form Builder for Elementor 500K+ · 4.7★ (509) wp.org #8 4 too low 5 Gift Cards (Gift Vouchers and Packages) (WooCommerce Supported) 1K+ · 4.7★ (115) wp.org #10 ↓1 5 too low 6 Imagify Image Optimization: Optimize Images | Compress & Convert to WebP/AVIF 900K+ · 4.3★ (1657) wp.org #17 11 too low 7 PPOM – Product Addons & Custom Fields for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.5★ (283) wp.org #20 13 too low 8 WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565) wp.org #24 ↓2 16 too low 9 Exclusive Addons for Elementor 50K+ · 4.7★ (47) wp.org #15 ↑1 6 too low 10 Contact Form to DB by BestWebSoft – Messages Database Plugin For WordPress 1K+ · 4.2★ (12) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 Kama Click Counter 800+ · 3.9★ (9) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 too high 12 Motors – Car Dealership & Classified Listings Plugin 9K+ · 4.5★ (79) wp.org #21 ↓3 9 too low 13 Double Opt-In for Contact Form 7 – Secure, GDPR-Compliant Email Verification 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 Educare – Students & Result Management System 600+ · 4.6★ (24) wp.org #18 ↓4 4 too low 15 WCPOS – Point of Sale (POS) plugin for WooCommerce 5K+ · 3.7★ (84) wp.org #22 ↓3 7 too low 16 Injection Guard 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #9 7 too high 17 Sense Forms 200+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #16 ↓1 1 too high 18 Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts 5K+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #12 6 too high 19 Counter-Hits 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 16 too high 20 Turnkey bbPress by WeaverTheme 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #13 ↓3 7 too high 21 Weblix Analytics – Real-Time Stats & Visitor Counter 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 15 too high 22 AI Discovery Files – llms.txt & AI Visibility 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↓1 8 too high 23 WPCreatix ViewMeter – WordPress Visitor Counter 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 WhatsLink Click Tracker 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓3 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.