Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “decode url”

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 “decode url”, 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

Flux Media Optimizer – Image & Video Optimization by Flux Plugins shows at wp.org #8 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 100+ 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

My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) places #6 on merit, 4.9★ from 1199 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Export Media URLs 7K+ · 5.0★ (29) wp.org #1 2 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 NinjaFirewall (WP Edition) – Advanced Security Plugin and Firewall 100K+ · 4.9★ (220) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Permalink Manager Lite 100K+ · 4.8★ (176) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 JWT Authentication for WP REST API 60K+ · 4.4★ (53) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #16 10 too low 7 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too low 8 Beautiful taxonomy filters 2K+ · 4.9★ (68) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too low 9 Link Whisper Free 30K+ · 4.2★ (150) wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too low 10 BlogVault Backup & Staging 80K+ · 4.6★ (332) wp.org #18 8 too low 11 Simple JWT Login – Allows you to use JWT on REST endpoints. 4K+ · 5.0★ (47) wp.org #14 3 too low 12 Simply Static – The Static Site Generator 30K+ · 4.5★ (195) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 Mobile Contact Bar 9K+ · 4.6★ (30) wp.org #17 4 too low 14 OpenStation – Admin Dashboard Notes, Custom Dashboard, AI Assistant & PWA 1K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 Text Typing – grab attention with animated typing headlines 3K+ · 3.8★ (6) wp.org #6 9 too high 16 Linguise – AI Automatic Multilingual Translation 1K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #22 ↑1 6 too low 17 Squeeze – Browser-Based Image Compression & WebP Converter (No API, No Limits) 3K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 Webmention 900+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 CPW Media Offload for Cloudflare R2 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 ↑2 12 too high 20 UseStrict’s Calendly Embedder 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #12 ↑1 8 too high 21 Flux Media Optimizer – Image & Video Optimization by Flux Plugins 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 13 too high 22 Secure Owl Firewall 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↓6 9 too high 23 Encode Decode Tool 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓1

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.