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← Rankings

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

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 “details”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 18 of the top 20. 4 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

eHive Object Details shows at wp.org #4 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 60+ 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

User Menus – Nav Menu Visibility places #5 on merit, 5.0★ from 1281 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 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 #3 2 too low 2 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #6 4 too low 3 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #9 ↓4 6 too low 4 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #10 ↓1 6 too low 5 User Menus – Nav Menu Visibility 80K+ · 5.0★ (1281) wp.org #20 ↓10 15 too low 6 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #11 ↓4 5 too low 7 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #21 ↑3 14 too low 8 Connect Contact Form 7 to Mailchimp, Brevo, MailerLite, Klaviyo, GetResponse, EmailOctopus, Campaign Monitor & Moosend 40K+ · 4.3★ (190) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 BuddyPress 90K+ · 4.1★ (375) wp.org #16 ↓1 7 too low 10 PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce 300K+ · 5.0★ (1865) wp.org #19 ↑2 9 too low 11 D Display Order Details 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #2 9 too high 12 Exif Details 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 11 too high 13 Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172) wp.org #24 ↓11 11 too low 14 Image Regenerate & Select Crop 7K+ · 4.7★ (58) wp.org #18 ↓2 4 too low 15 Cart Abandonment Recovery for WooCommerce – Recover Lost Sales with Automated Emails 300K+ · 4.8★ (626) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 Events Widgets For Elementor And The Events Calendar 10K+ · 4.5★ (108) wp.org #17 1 too low 17 WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments 800K+ · 3.4★ (177) wp.org #12 ↑2 5 too high 18 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #13 ↓5 5 too high 19 Order Details Viewer for WooCommerce 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 11 too high 20 AffiliateWP – Order Details For Affiliates 2K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 15 too high 21 eHive Object Details 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 17 too high 22 Disk Usage Details 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 15 too high 23 ShopMagic Abandoned Cart Recovery for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 Order Item Details Column for WooCommerce 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↓3 9 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.