Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “covid”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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.

Ranked above its merit

Funbutler Booking System shows at wp.org #7 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 100+ 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

Post to Google My Business (Google Business Profile) places #6 on merit, 4.9★ from 159 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Hustle – Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Optins, Popups 80K+ · 4.4★ (859) wp.org #1 2 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #2 3 Exclusive Addons for Elementor 50K+ · 4.7★ (47) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Deposits & Partial Payments for WooCommerce – Bayna 1K+ · 5.0★ (49) wp.org #8 4 too low 5 Advanced Sermons 1K+ · 4.7★ (22) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Post to Google My Business (Google Business Profile) 10K+ · 4.9★ (159) wp.org #22 ↑2 16 too low 7 Promolayer – Popup Builder & Abandonment Preventer 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Better Robots.txt – AI-Ready Crawl Control & Bot Governance 5K+ · 4.5★ (102) wp.org #24 16 too low 9 ACS Points Plugin 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 6 too high 10 We’re Open! 5K+ · 5.0★ (45) wp.org #23 13 too low 11 Simple Website Banner 600+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #12 ↑1 1 too low 12 Corona Bangladesh Live 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 8 too high 13 COVID19 – Coronavirus Outbreak Data 200+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #19 ↑2 6 too low 14 Corona Virus Data 1K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #14 ↑1 15 WPC Smart Messages for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #10 5 too high 16 Awesome Guten Text – 8 Powerful Blocks for Gutenberg 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 ↑1 5 too high 17 DR SARA COVID 10+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #15 ↑1 2 too high 18 iChart – Easy Charts and Graphs 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #20 ↑2 2 too low 19 SA Coronavirus Banner 60+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #17 ↑1 2 too high 20 Coronavirus Spread Prediction Tools Free Version 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↑1 7 too high 21 Funbutler Booking System 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 14 too high 22 Covid-19 Corona Virus Report 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↑1 6 too high 23 Full Trust — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↑2 2 too high 24 Tip My Work – HostJane Payments — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↑1 6 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.