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← Rankings

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

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 “detail”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

Exif Details shows at wp.org #2 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 300+ 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

PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce places #5 on merit, 5.0★ from 1865 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 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #1 2 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #7 ↓1 4 too low 4 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708) wp.org #9 ↓1 5 too low 5 PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce 300K+ · 5.0★ (1865) wp.org #16 11 too low 6 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #11 ↓2 5 too low 7 User Menus – Nav Menu Visibility 80K+ · 5.0★ (1281) wp.org #18 ↑3 11 too low 8 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #17 9 too low 9 Connect Contact Form 7 to Mailchimp, Brevo, MailerLite, Klaviyo, GetResponse, EmailOctopus, Campaign Monitor & Moosend 40K+ · 4.3★ (190) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 BuddyPress 90K+ · 4.1★ (375) wp.org #14 4 too low 11 Cart Abandonment Recovery for WooCommerce – Recover Lost Sales with Automated Emails 300K+ · 4.8★ (626) wp.org #20 9 too low 12 WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments 800K+ · 3.4★ (177) wp.org #10 ↑8 2 too high 13 Easy WP SMTP – WordPress SMTP and Email Logs: Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Outlook, Custom SMTP, and more 500K+ · 4.6★ (709) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 Image Regenerate & Select Crop 7K+ · 4.7★ (58) wp.org #15 ↑2 1 too low 15 D Display Order Details 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #3 12 too high 16 Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172) wp.org #22 ↓11 6 too low 17 Event Booking Manager for WooCommerce – Sell Tickets, Event Registration, RSVP & Event Calendar 7K+ · 4.5★ (167) wp.org #23 ↓1 6 too low 18 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #13 ↓3 5 too high 19 WSB HUB3 1K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 Exif Details 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #2 18 too high 21 ShopMagic Abandoned Cart Recovery for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #19 2 too high 22 eHive Object Details 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 17 too high 23 Disk Usage Details 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 17 too high 24 AffiliateWP – Order Details For Affiliates 2K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↓1 16 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.