Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “cuttings”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 5 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

Church Tithe WP shows at wp.org #17 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 200+ 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

NitroPack – Performance, Page Speed & Cache Plugin for Core Web Vitals, CDN & Image Optimization places #7 on merit, 4.3★ from 311 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #1 2 DearFlip – PDF Flipbook, 3D Flipbook, PDF embed, PDF viewer 200K+ · 4.9★ (194) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution 100K+ · 4.4★ (590) wp.org #4 ↑2 1 too low 4 Smart Image Resize for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.6★ (82) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Realtyna Organic IDX plugin + WPL Real Estate 1K+ · 4.7★ (203) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Mediavine Control Panel 10K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #2 4 too high 7 NitroPack – Performance, Page Speed & Cache Plugin for Core Web Vitals, CDN & Image Optimization 90K+ · 4.3★ (311) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 Search with Typesense 700+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too high 9 DOOFINDER Search and Discovery for WP & WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.9★ (127) wp.org #16 ↑3 7 too low 10 Product Bundle Builder for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.8★ (61) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 White Label – WordPress Custom Admin, Custom Login Page, and Custom Dashboard 10K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #12 ↑1 1 too low 12 Vision – Interactive Image Map with Hotspots Builder 2K+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #7 5 too high 13 3DPrint Lite 600+ · 4.8★ (37) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 Podlove Podcast Publisher 3K+ · 4.3★ (45) wp.org #10 4 too high 15 RapidLoad AI – Optimize Web Vitals Automatically 600+ · 4.2★ (70) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too high 16 Kubio AI Page Builder 80K+ · 4.4★ (79) wp.org #19 ↑1 3 too low 17 Easy Optimizer – PageSpeed, Cache & Core Web Vitals (Unused CSS, Delay JS, Lazy Load) 1K+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #22 ↓4 5 too low 18 RioVizual — Table Blocks for Comparison, Pricing and Pros & Cons 1K+ · 4.6★ (12) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 Paytm Payment Gateway 3K+ · 3.1★ (15) wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too low 20 FastBots 1K+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 CIELO API PIX, credit card, debit payment for WooCommerce 600+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #18 ↓1 3 too high 22 HHG for TranslatePress 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Church Tithe WP 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓1 6 too high 24 Airwallex Online Payments Gateway 6K+ · 2.1★ (7) 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.