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

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 “don”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 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

Casso Flow – Tự động xác nhận thanh toán chuyển khoản ngân hàng shows at wp.org #2 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 200+ 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

Swift Performance Lite places #11 on merit, 3.6★ from 125 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 Drag and Drop Multiple File Upload for Contact Form 7 60K+ · 4.8★ (94) wp.org #5 ↓4 4 too low 2 VietQR 4K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Ad Invalid Click Protector (AICP) 10K+ · 4.7★ (62) wp.org #9 ↓1 6 too low 4 Multilingual Contact Form 7 with Polylang 9K+ · 4.9★ (17) wp.org #7 ↓3 3 too low 5 Request a Quote for WooCommerce – Get a Quote Button 6K+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #12 ↓1 7 too low 6 Vietnam Checkout for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #11 ↓5 5 too low 7 WPB Popup for Contact Form 7 – Showing Contact Form 7 Popup on Button Click 5K+ · 4.6★ (16) wp.org #10 ↓1 3 too low 8 Drag and Drop Multiple File Upload for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (20) wp.org #14 ↓4 6 too low 9 payOS 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 6 too high 10 Progress Bar 1K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #19 ↓2 9 too low 11 Swift Performance Lite 6K+ · 3.6★ (125) wp.org #20 ↓1 9 too low 12 HelloAsso 4K+ · 3.6★ (5) wp.org #4 ↓1 8 too high 13 Casso Flow – Tự động xác nhận thanh toán chuyển khoản ngân hàng 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #2 11 too high 14 SePay Gateway 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 ↓4 8 too high 15 Komfortkasse for WooCommerce 100+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #16 ↓2 1 too low 16 HelloAsso Payments for WooCommerce 300+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #8 ↓3 8 too high 17 Clean WP Admin Theme – Simple design 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #13 ↓6 4 too high 18 Cookiez – GDPR & CCPA Cookie Banner & Consent Manager 50K+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #17 ↓1 1 too high 19 WCB | WP Configurator Builder – Product Configurators Made Simple 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 ↑2 3 too low 20 Fygaro WC Plugin 600+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓3 2 too high 21 AIO Tools (All in One Tools) 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↓2 6 too high 22 Bran-Don Easy Contact Form — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓2 1 too low 23 BotFend Anti-Bot Firewall 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓3 2 too high 24 Easy File Upload & Approval – A Simple File Submission & Review System 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓4

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.