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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “digital will”

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 “digital will”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Digital Signature For Contact Form 7 shows at wp.org #5 but places #12 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.9★ average from 14 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Advanced Google reCAPTCHA places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 430 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 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591) wp.org #1 2 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #2 3 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #7 ↓2 3 too low 5 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #9 ↓3 3 too low 7 Advanced Google reCAPTCHA 200K+ · 4.8★ (430) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 Digital License Manager 800+ · 4.7★ (30) wp.org #6 ↑2 2 too high 9 Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker – WCAG, ADA, EAA and Section 508 compliance 10K+ · 4.9★ (80) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 SureCart – Ecommerce Made Easy For Selling Physical Products, Digital Downloads, Subscriptions, Donations, & Payments 80K+ · 4.8★ (289) wp.org #14 4 too low 11 Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #12 ↑5 1 too low 12 Digital Signature For Contact Form 7 5K+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #5 ↑2 7 too high 13 Digital Goods for WooCommerce Checkout 3K+ · 4.5★ (42) wp.org #8 ↑1 5 too high 14 Download Manager 90K+ · 4.1★ (1006) wp.org #17 ↓5 3 too low 15 Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514) wp.org #23 ↓3 8 too low 16 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #21 5 too low 17 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #18 19 Simple Digital Clock 🕒 500+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #15 4 too high 20 Easy Digital Downloads Free Link 900+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #13 7 too high 21 Digital Signature Add-on for WooCommerce 900+ · 3.1★ (19) wp.org #19 2 too high 22 Digital Signature Checkout For WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #20 ↑2 2 too high 23 Digital Clock 300+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #22 ↑2 1 too high 24 ECard – Digital Visiting Card 300+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #24

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.