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

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 “covers”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 2 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

Cookiez – GDPR & CCPA Cookie Banner & Consent Manager shows at wp.org #13 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 50K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #1 2 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #2 3 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #3 4 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) wp.org #5 ↓3 6 Filter Everything — WordPress & WooCommerce Filters 50K+ · 4.6★ (154) wp.org #6 ↓2 7 PixelYourSite – Your smart PIXEL (TAG) & API Manager 400K+ · 4.3★ (281) wp.org #7 ↑2 8 WP Job Manager 70K+ · 4.4★ (237) wp.org #9 ↓2 1 too low 9 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too low 10 DearFlip – PDF Flipbook, 3D Flipbook, PDF embed, PDF viewer 200K+ · 4.9★ (194) wp.org #10 ↓4 11 Weight Based Shipping for WooCommerce 50K+ · 4.6★ (83) wp.org #8 ↓3 3 too high 12 Robo Gallery – Photo & Image Slider 40K+ · 4.3★ (406) wp.org #14 ↓2 2 too low 13 Post Views Counter 100K+ · 4.9★ (1236) wp.org #21 8 too low 14 Carousel Slider Block for Gutenberg 50K+ · 4.8★ (59) wp.org #11 ↓3 3 too high 15 Formidable Forms – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Payment, Calculator Form & Custom Form Builder 300K+ · 4.8★ (1387) wp.org #23 ↑1 8 too low 16 Nav Menu Roles 70K+ · 4.9★ (219) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 Make Column Clickable for Elementor 100K+ · 4.9★ (53) wp.org #18 ↓1 1 too low 18 IP Location Block 10K+ · 4.5★ (35) wp.org #24 ↓3 6 too low 19 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #19 20 Real3D Flipbook – 3D Flipbook, PDF Flipbook, PDF Viewer, PDF Embedder 10K+ · 4.5★ (11) wp.org #16 ↓3 4 too high 21 DHL Shipping Germany for WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.0★ (47) wp.org #15 6 too high 22 Hash Link Scroll Offset 1K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #22 ↓2 23 Cookiez – GDPR & CCPA Cookie Banner & Consent Manager 50K+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #13 ↓3 10 too high 24 YITH Pre-Order for WooCommerce 6K+ · 3.1★ (16) wp.org #17 ↑1 7 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.