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

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 “distance”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Distance Based Shipping Calculator shows at wp.org #4 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 20 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Simply Schedule Appointments places #11 on merit, 5.0★ from 155 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Calculate Prices based on Distance For WooCommerce 300+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #1 2 WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312) wp.org #6 ↓1 4 too low 3 Calculated Fields Form – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact, Payment, Quote, Quiz & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (973) wp.org #8 ↑1 5 too low 4 Weight Based Shipping Table Rate for WooCommerce – Flexible Shipping 100K+ · 4.9★ (706) wp.org #9 ↓1 5 too low 5 WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam 400K+ · 5.0★ (1471) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too high 7 BP Distance Search 100+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #2 5 too high 8 E-cab Taxi Booking Manager for Woocommerce 2K+ · 4.9★ (28) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 BP Profile Search 5K+ · 5.0★ (71) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 MultiVendorX – WooCommerce Multivendor Marketplace AI Powered Solutions 2K+ · 4.8★ (432) wp.org #12 ↑2 2 too low 11 Simply Schedule Appointments 50K+ · 5.0★ (155) wp.org #21 10 too low 12 Leaflet Map 30K+ · 4.9★ (58) wp.org #18 ↑2 6 too low 13 Coming soon and Maintenance mode 8K+ · 4.2★ (83) wp.org #14 ↓1 1 too low 14 GEO my WP 3K+ · 4.6★ (139) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 Carousel Slider Block for Gutenberg 50K+ · 4.8★ (59) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 Kikote – Location Picker at Checkout & Google Address AutoFill Plugin for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (65) wp.org #17 ↑1 1 too low 17 WooReer 1K+ · 4.1★ (24) wp.org #13 ↓1 4 too high 18 Custom Shipping Methods for WooCommerce – Create Weight based Shipping, Conditional Shipping, Table Rate Shipping and much more 3K+ · 4.8★ (18) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 Distance Rate Shipping For WooCommerce 300+ · 3.3★ (8) wp.org #3 16 too high 20 WP GPX Maps 4K+ · 4.1★ (59) wp.org #20 21 AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #22 ↓6 1 too low 22 Shipping Zones by Drawing for WooCommerce 500+ · 4.1★ (24) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 GPX Route Map 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 ↑1 7 too high 24 Distance Based Shipping Calculator 100+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #4 20 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.