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

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 “decoding”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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 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

ExploreXR shows at wp.org #6 but places #11 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 50+ 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Asset CleanUp: Page Speed Booster 100K+ · 4.9★ (1564) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Helper Lite for PageSpeed 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Payment Gateway for Redsys & WooCommerce Lite 20K+ · 4.9★ (87) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 PDF.js Viewer 20K+ · 4.4★ (53) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 DietPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Atlant Security 700+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Inventory Presser – Car Dealer Listings 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 MMWW 200+ · 4.5★ (11) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 PitchPrint 300+ · 3.7★ (30) wp.org #17 8 too low 10 Kodlo Product Gallery for Elementor 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 ExploreXR 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 UltimaTour Contact Forms 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 Reycob WebP e Iconos 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 3 too high 14 WPRobo Checkout URL Bridge for Meta Shops 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 3 too high 15 ImReso: Unlimited Target-Size Image Compressor 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 16 RP 4U (Maps & Route Planner) 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 Scrollzee – Video Scroll 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 Tanupom In-Place Converter for WebP 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 19 ZetaLine Site Notifications for MAX 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 WebLift Booster by Jayanta — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 WT Catalog Tools for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 My WP Photos — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 StaticForge for Cloudflare Pages 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Pixelweb Image Optimizer — · 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.