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

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 “crash”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Tidy Media shows at wp.org #12 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 8 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

SureCart – Ecommerce Made Easy For Selling Physical Products, Digital Downloads, Subscriptions, Donations, & Payments places #4 on merit, 4.8★ from 288 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #1 2 Flying Pages: Preload Pages for Faster Navigation & Improved User Experience 20K+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Meta for WooCommerce 400K+ · 2.1★ (481) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 SureCart – Ecommerce Made Easy For Selling Physical Products, Digital Downloads, Subscriptions, Donations, & Payments 80K+ · 4.8★ (288) wp.org #11 7 too low 5 Everest Backup – WordPress Cloud Backup, Migration, Restore & Cloning Plugin 3K+ · 4.4★ (45) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 NinjaScanner – Virus & Malware scan 40K+ · 4.0★ (36) wp.org #6 7 Disable Everything 30K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 BugSnag Error Monitoring plugin 2K+ · 3.7★ (9) wp.org #4 4 too high 9 GSlider Blocks 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Nexter Extension – Security, Performance, Code Snippets & Site Toolkit 10K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #14 ↑3 4 too low 11 Custom Code 100+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Fatal Plugin Auto Deactivator – Never let a plugin break your site 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 4 too high 13 AntiSpam for Contact Form 7 10K+ · 4.2★ (13) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too low 14 Local SEO By Ankit Rawat 40+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 BrainyPress 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 ↓1 1 too low 16 Mobile App for WooCommerce: ShopApper Mobile App Builder Service for WooCommerce 30+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #23 ↓1 7 too low 17 Error Sniffing Pug – Tells you what broke 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 CloudScale Backup & Restore 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 ZeroFatal – PHP Fatal Error Monitor & Crash Detection — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓1 4 too high 20 Tidy Media 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 8 too high 21 Sanctuary Ranger Crash Recorder — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too high 22 Simple Editor Control – File History, Diff & Restore 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↑1 4 too high 23 OminiFlow for WooCommerce — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 Antimanual Builder – Truly AI Powered Visual Page Builder 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.