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

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 “crowd”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

aThemes Starter Sites shows at wp.org #9 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 30K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

OAuth Single Sign On – SSO (OAuth Client) places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 327 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 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #1 2 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Custom Fonts – Host Your Fonts Locally 400K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Brizy – Page Builder 60K+ · 4.7★ (972) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Ultimate Maps by Supsystic – OpenStreetMap, Leaflet & Mapbox, No API Key 10K+ · 4.6★ (86) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Matomo Analytics – Powerful, Privacy-First Insights for WordPress 100K+ · 4.6★ (178) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 M Mesmerize Companion 50K+ · 4.4★ (51) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 EmbedPress 100K+ · 4.8★ (307) wp.org #13 5 too low 9 OAuth Single Sign On – SSO (OAuth Client) 6K+ · 4.9★ (327) wp.org #21 12 too low 10 Order Splitter for WooCommerce 300+ · 4.7★ (70) wp.org #14 ↑4 4 too low 11 WebToffee eCommerce Marketing Automation – Email marketing, Popups, Email customizer 10K+ · 4.8★ (54) wp.org #18 ↓1 7 too low 12 Page Visits Counter – Lite 5K+ · 4.0★ (7) wp.org #4 8 too high 13 weForms – Easy Drag & Drop Contact Form Builder For WordPress 10K+ · 4.5★ (111) wp.org #23 10 too low 14 Quiz Cat – WordPress Quiz Plugin 4K+ · 4.7★ (35) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too low 15 JetFormBuilder — Dynamic Blocks Form Builder 80K+ · 4.2★ (72) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 M Materialis Companion 6K+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #11 5 too high 17 Zeno Report Comments 200+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #12 5 too high 18 FundEngine – Donation and Crowdfunding Platform 1K+ · 4.2★ (22) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too high 19 Riddle Quiz Maker – easily add quizzes with unlimited lead generation to your site 200+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 g-FFL Checkout 600+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too high 21 Cowboy MCP – Free MCP Server with Undo for Claude & ChatGPT 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 CrowdHandler virtual waiting room 100+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #10 12 too high 23 Ultimate Carousel For Divi 700+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 aThemes Starter Sites 30K+ · 2.0★ (2) wp.org #9 15 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.