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

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 “donating”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

Read More WP shows at wp.org #4 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 1K+ 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

Duplicate Post Page Menu & Custom Post Type places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 92 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 Regenerate Thumbnails 1M+ · 4.6★ (396) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Doneren met Mollie 4K+ · 4.5★ (23) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 C Cornerstone 20K+ · 4.0★ (6) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 WhyDonate – FREE Donate button – Crowdfunding – Fundraising 700+ · 4.8★ (43) wp.org #9 5 too low 5 Accept Donations with PayPal & Stripe 10K+ · 3.8★ (23) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 WP Server Health Stats 9K+ · 4.8★ (110) wp.org #13 7 too low 7 Ad Invalid Click Protector (AICP) 10K+ · 4.7★ (62) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 WP GoToWebinar 600+ · 4.9★ (15) wp.org #8 9 Duplicate Post Page Menu & Custom Post Type 10K+ · 4.9★ (92) wp.org #23 14 too low 10 B Blue Captcha 400+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #10 11 Hide Dashboard Notifications 20K+ · 3.9★ (33) wp.org #12 1 too low 12 Japanese font for WordPress(Previously: Japanese Font for TinyMCE) 10K+ · 3.8★ (6) wp.org #7 5 too high 13 Next Watermark 200+ · 3.4★ (11) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 Read More WP 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 10 too high 15 GoPrayer 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 10 too high 16 Captcha Ajax 100+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #17 1 too low 17 FundPress – WordPress Donation Plugin 300+ · 3.8★ (4) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 Elite Notification – Sales Popup, Social Proof, FOMO Notification for WooCommerce 30+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 Order Tip & Donations for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 Block Widgets Monster 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 Integration for listmonk mailing list and newsletter service 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 5 too high 22 Read More Button – Expand Content Without Refresh 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 CSS chat button 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 Summary box for Wikipedia links 30+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.