Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “current weather”

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

WFY24 Weather Widget shows at wp.org #5 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 40+ 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

Smart Post – Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider Gutenberg Blocks for Blog & News places #6 on merit, 4.7★ from 210 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Location Weather – WordPress Weather Forecast, Air Quality & Weather Widget 10K+ · 4.5★ (103) wp.org #1 2 Weather Atlas Widget 8K+ · 4.1★ (41) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Weather Widget Pro 1K+ · 3.9★ (8) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #11 7 too low 5 Ventus – Weather Map Widget & Shortcode 3K+ · 4.9★ (13) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Smart Post – Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider Gutenberg Blocks for Blog & News 20K+ · 4.7★ (210) wp.org #24 18 too low 7 Under The Weather 60+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 HT Mega Addons for Elementor – Elementor Widgets & Template Builder 60K+ · 4.1★ (66) wp.org #19 ↑1 11 too low 9 wp-forecast 4K+ · 4.2★ (23) wp.org #13 4 too low 10 Magazine Blocks – Blog Designer, Magazine & Newspaper Website Builder, Page Builder with Posts Blocks, Post Grid 6K+ · 4.9★ (11) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 Event Post 1K+ · 4.3★ (35) wp.org #17 6 too low 12 Wetterwarner 500+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #14 ↑1 2 too low 13 Weather Forecast Widget 200+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #6 7 too high 14 Simple Location 300+ · 4.6★ (8) wp.org #15 ↓1 1 too low 15 WFY24 Weather Widget 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 10 too high 16 Weather Write 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 7 too high 17 WS40 – Live Weather 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 7 too high 18 Weather Widget & Forecast by Meteoprog 60+ · 2.7★ (3) wp.org #8 10 too high 19 Tides Today Tides and Weather 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↑1 1 too high 20 TheAVCoach Weather Station for WeatherLink 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↑1 21 Spelhubben Weather 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓4 1 too low 22 PDS Weather 10+ · 2.5★ (2) wp.org #16 6 too high 23 Global Weather Pro: Weather Widget for WP 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 24 WeatherBot Weather Widget 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↑1 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.