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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “datetime publish”

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 “datetime publish”, 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

Publish kintone data shows at wp.org #4 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 50+ 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

WP Last Modified Info places #4 on merit, 4.9★ from 856 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Social Media Auto Poster – Schedule & Publish to Buffer 7K+ · 4.5★ (125) wp.org #1 2 Instapage Plugin 4K+ · 4.8★ (218) wp.org #6 ↑1 4 too low 3 Snow Monkey Blocks 30K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too high 4 WP Last Modified Info 40K+ · 4.9★ (856) wp.org #13 ↑1 9 too low 5 Social Media Auto Poster – Schedule & Publish to Hootsuite 200+ · 4.1★ (15) wp.org #3 ↑1 2 too high 6 Easy Social Feed – All In One Social Feed Plugin for WordPress 30K+ · 4.6★ (502) wp.org #15 ↑1 9 too low 7 Ninja Tables – Easy Data Table Builder 70K+ · 4.6★ (472) wp.org #16 ↑1 9 too low 8 Events Made Easy 1K+ · 4.6★ (111) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 EventPrime – Events Calendar, Bookings, Tickets & AI 7K+ · 4.4★ (85) wp.org #10 ↑2 1 too low 10 Copy Anything to Clipboard for WordPress – Copy Button, Copy Text & Copy Code 10K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too high 11 Smart Manager – Bulk Edit for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.4★ (288) wp.org #17 ↑2 6 too low 12 تقویم فارسی – Persian Calendar 3K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #5 ↑1 7 too high 13 The Innovative Form Builder – IvyForms 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #7 ↑1 6 too high 14 Theater for WordPress 600+ · 4.9★ (25) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too high 15 Publish kintone data 50+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #4 ↑1 11 too high 16 Micropub 200+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #8 ↑1 8 too high 17 Product Price by Formula for WooCommerce 100+ · 3.8★ (15) wp.org #14 ↑1 3 too high 18 connectDaily Events Calendar Plugin 90+ · 4.4★ (17) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 Coupon Plugin Lite 300+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 Post Kinds 100+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #21 1 too low 21 ParrotPoster – Auto Post to Social Media 100+ · 3.0★ (8) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too high 22 Themefour Shamsi Kit 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 W3P SEO – Lightweight SEO, Schema & AI Search Toolkit 90+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 PushAI – Self-Hosted Web Push Notifications 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 1 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.