Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “coverage”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 3 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.

L

Ranked above its merit

Liveblog shows at wp.org #11 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.9★ average from 15 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Maps Plugin using Google Maps for WordPress – WP Google Map places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 172 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Redis Object Cache 500K+ · 4.5★ (179) wp.org #1 2 Cookiebot – Cookie Banner & Cookie Consent for GDPR, CCPA & Google Consent Mode 100K+ · 4.4★ (440) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Safe SVG 1M+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 kk Star Ratings – Rate Post & Collect User Feedbacks 70K+ · 3.9★ (171) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 CookieYes – Cookie Banner for Cookie Consent (Easy to setup GDPR/CCPA Compliant Cookie Notice) 1M+ · 4.8★ (3236) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Disabled Source, Disabled Right Click and Content Protection 10K+ · 4.9★ (103) wp.org #10 ↑12 4 too low 7 Alt Text AI – Automatically generate image alt text for SEO and accessibility 20K+ · 4.7★ (35) wp.org #7 8 Bulk Auto Image Alt Text (Alt tag, Alt attribute) optimizer (image SEO) 10K+ · 4.2★ (111) wp.org #8 9 Toolkit for Polylang – Translation Inspector & Duplicate Content 10K+ · 4.5★ (33) wp.org #9 10 Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP 90K+ · 4.8★ (80) wp.org #14 ↑1 4 too low 11 Nooz 500+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #5 6 too high 12 Maps Plugin using Google Maps for WordPress – WP Google Map 10K+ · 4.8★ (172) wp.org #21 9 too low 13 WP Swiper 5K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #13 14 Reviews and Rating – Google Reviews 20K+ · 4.9★ (184) wp.org #17 ↓3 3 too low 15 User Admin Simplifier 10K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 SOOZ – AI for SEO – Bulk Generate Focus Keyphrases, Metadata, Alt Text (SEO Autopilot) 2K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #15 ↑1 1 too high 17 FV Flowplayer Video Player 10K+ · 4.4★ (90) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too low 18 Booter – Bots & Crawlers Manager 7K+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #12 ↓1 6 too high 19 L Liveblog 2K+ · 2.9★ (15) wp.org #11 ↓1 8 too high 20 AI Alt Text Generator 2K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #18 ↓6 2 too high 21 CheckView – Form & Checkout Testing 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 Tag Pilot FREE – Google Tag Manager Integration for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #16 ↑1 6 too high 23 TrueRanker 400+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #22 ↓3 1 too high 24 Chainwire Integration 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 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.