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← Rankings

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

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 “discovery”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 3 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

Conversion Agent Discovery shows at wp.org #10 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 995 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 DOOFINDER Search and Discovery for WP & WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.9★ (127) wp.org #2 3 Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too low 5 Login Lockdown & Protection 100K+ · 4.3★ (61) wp.org #5 6 Performance Lab 100K+ · 4.3★ (51) wp.org #6 ↑4 7 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #18 ↑2 11 too low 8 WP Search with Algolia 7K+ · 4.5★ (24) wp.org #7 ↑5 1 too high 9 Say What? 40K+ · 4.3★ (92) wp.org #15 6 too low 10 FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) wp.org #23 ↓6 13 too low 11 AI Discovery Files – llms.txt & AI Visibility 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 10 too high 12 Better Font Awesome 60K+ · 4.5★ (88) wp.org #20 ↓1 8 too low 13 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #9 ↑4 4 too high 14 Website LLMs.txt 50K+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #12 ↓6 2 too high 15 ThinkRank SEO – AI SEO Plugin for SEO & Google Search Console 20K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #17 2 too low 16 Enable Abilities for MCP 5K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #19 3 too low 17 WebSub (FKA. PubSubHubbub) 100K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #11 ↓2 6 too high 18 LLMagnet – AI Visibility & AI SEO for Claude, ChatGPT & More 600+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 Advance Product Search- Voice & Ajax Search for WooCommerce 9K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 Pinterest for WooCommerce 200K+ · 2.3★ (68) wp.org #13 ↑5 7 too high 21 CM Table Of Contents – Clear navigation for better content discovery 100+ · 3.3★ (9) wp.org #16 5 too high 22 Conversion Agent Discovery 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↓2 12 too high 23 WebFinger 1K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #14 9 too high 24 AI Provider For DeepSeek 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 2 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.