Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “dependency track”

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 “dependency track”, 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

WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments shows at wp.org #6 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 800K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.4★ average from 177 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

CWILL (Formerly ParcelPanel) – Shipment Tracking, Tracking & Order Tracking for WooCommerce places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 538 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #1 ↑2 2 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #2 3 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #4 5 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #3 ↓2 2 too high 6 Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 CWILL (Formerly ParcelPanel) – Shipment Tracking, Tracking & Order Tracking for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.9★ (538) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too low 8 Affiliate Program Suite — SliceWP Affiliates 10K+ · 4.9★ (111) wp.org #9 ↑2 1 too low 9 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591) wp.org #13 ↓1 4 too low 10 Waymark 900+ · 5.0★ (54) wp.org #8 2 too high 11 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too high 12 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #14 ↑4 2 too low 13 Query Monitor 200K+ · 4.9★ (470) wp.org #19 ↑2 6 too low 14 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 ThirstyAffiliates – Affiliate Links, Link Branding, Link Tracking & Marketing Plugin 30K+ · 4.6★ (251) wp.org #21 ↓1 5 too low 17 WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments 800K+ · 3.4★ (177) wp.org #6 11 too high 18 FluentCart A New Era of eCommerce – Faster, Lighter, and Simpler 9K+ · 4.5★ (46) wp.org #12 ↑3 6 too high 19 Metricool – Social media and site statistics 90K+ · 4.4★ (23) wp.org #15 ↑4 4 too high 20 Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content 10K+ · 4.2★ (60) wp.org #24 ↓11 4 too low 21 QR Code Composer – Automatic QR code generation 3K+ · 4.2★ (9) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too high 22 Ads.txt File Manager By Magicbid 2K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too high 23 Bolt CTA Button – Floating Call Button for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #23 ↑1 24 Light Views Counter – Fast, Scalable View Counter for High-Traffic Sites 3K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↓2 8 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.