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

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 “deployment”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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.

W

Ranked above its merit

WPBase Cache shows at wp.org #5 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

wpDataTables – WordPress Data Table, Dynamic Tables & Table Charts Plugin places #7 on merit, 4.5★ from 449 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too low 2 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Simply Static – The Static Site Generator 30K+ · 4.5★ (195) wp.org #8 ↓3 4 too low 5 Staatic – Static Site Generator for WordPress 3K+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too high 6 Cloudinary – Deliver Images and Videos at Scale 5K+ · 4.0★ (64) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 wpDataTables – WordPress Data Table, Dynamic Tables & Table Charts Plugin 60K+ · 4.5★ (449) wp.org #20 ↓3 13 too low 8 Nelio A/B Testing – AB Tests and Heatmaps for Better Conversion Optimization 4K+ · 4.8★ (99) wp.org #15 7 too low 9 Deployer for Git 600+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #6 ↓2 3 too high 10 Advanced Media Offloader – Offload Media to Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2, DigitalOcean Spaces & More 7K+ · 4.7★ (48) wp.org #16 ↓7 6 too low 11 CodeKit – Custom Codes Editor 7K+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #9 ↓2 2 too high 12 Export WordPress Pages to Static HTML & PDF — Static Site Export 4K+ · 3.8★ (51) wp.org #13 ↓2 1 too low 13 ThinkRank SEO – AI SEO Plugin for SEO & Google Search Console 20K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #18 ↑1 5 too low 14 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #19 ↑2 5 too low 15 Gitium 400+ · 4.1★ (10) wp.org #12 ↓2 3 too high 16 SpinupWP 30K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #21 ↓3 5 too low 17 Oliver POS – WooCommerce POS for iPhone, iPad & Android 700+ · 4.2★ (90) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 W WPBase Cache 3K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #5 13 too high 19 Migrate to WordPress.com 2K+ · 4.7★ (9) wp.org #14 ↓2 5 too high 20 VRTs – Visual Regression Tests 800+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too high 21 Dynamics 365 Integration 500+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #22 ↓2 1 too low 22 Static Porter 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↑4 12 too high 23 BrightEdge Autopilot 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↓3 12 too high 24 Jotform – AI Chatbot 5K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓1 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.