Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 control”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 4 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

g-FFL Checkout shows at wp.org #8 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 600+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

YASR – Yet Another Star Rating Plugin for WordPress places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 323 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Custom Fonts – Host Your Fonts Locally 400K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Brizy – Page Builder 60K+ · 4.7★ (972) wp.org #6 ↑1 3 too low 4 Ultimate Maps by Supsystic – OpenStreetMap, Leaflet & Mapbox, No API Key 10K+ · 4.6★ (86) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 EmbedPress 100K+ · 4.8★ (307) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too low 6 Matomo Analytics – Powerful, Privacy-First Insights for WordPress 100K+ · 4.6★ (178) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too high 7 Zeno Report Comments 200+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 too high 8 OAuth Single Sign On – SSO (OAuth Client) 6K+ · 4.9★ (327) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too low 9 Youzify – BuddyPress Community, User Profile, Social Network & Membership Plugin for WordPress 5K+ · 4.8★ (194) wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too low 10 Quiz Cat – WordPress Quiz Plugin 4K+ · 4.7★ (35) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too high 11 JetFormBuilder — Dynamic Blocks Form Builder 80K+ · 4.2★ (72) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too high 12 YASR – Yet Another Star Rating Plugin for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (323) wp.org #23 ↑1 11 too low 13 Slider Hero with Video Background, Animation 3K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too low 14 weForms – Easy Drag & Drop Contact Form Builder For WordPress 10K+ · 4.5★ (111) wp.org #13 ↑1 1 too high 15 Paymattic – Secure, Simple Payment & Donation with Subscription Payments, Recurring Donations, Customer Management 3K+ · 4.8★ (44) wp.org #18 ↑1 3 too low 16 DarkMySite – Advanced Dark Mode Plugin for WordPress 900+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #16 ↑1 17 FluentPlayer – Video Player With Forms & Lead Capture 2K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #17 ↑1 18 g-FFL Checkout 600+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #8 ↑1 10 too high 19 Photo Contest | Competition | Video Contest 200+ · 4.5★ (19) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Pearl – Header Builder 5K+ · 3.3★ (13) wp.org #20 ↑1 21 Unlimited Elements Blocks Library 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↑1 6 too high 22 Ultimate Bootstrap Elements for Elementor 6K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↑1 3 too high 23 Wysistat 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 HT Politic – For Political WordPress Themes / Website 200+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↑2 3 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.