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

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 “dr”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 4 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

Speedx Smart Line Breaks shows at wp.org #7 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 50+ 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

Read More Without Refresh places #3 on merit, 4.2★ from 55 reviews, but shows at wp.org #8. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1338) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Read More Without Refresh 20K+ · 4.2★ (55) wp.org #8 5 too low 4 Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Beehive Analytics – Google Analytics Dashboard 20K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #5 6 PPOM – Product Addons & Custom Fields for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.5★ (283) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Dr. Flex 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 6 too high 8 Icegram Mailer – Reliable Email Deliverability, No-Code SMTP Replacement & Email Logs for WordPress 2K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 ACF OpenStreetMap Field 10K+ · 4.6★ (24) wp.org #23 14 too low 10 F4 Salutation Fields for WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #4 6 too high 11 immonex Kickstart 300+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 Auto Cloudinary 200+ · 4.4★ (14) wp.org #22 10 too low 13 AI Content Generator For Elementor 200+ · 4.3★ (7) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 Sumtics – AI Summarizer & TL;DR Generator 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 5 too high 15 Speedx Smart Line Breaks 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 8 too high 16 immonex Kickstart Team 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 5 too high 17 CloudScale Backup & Restore 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Custom Sidebars by ProteusThemes 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 Delisho – Recipe Widgets and Blocks 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 2 too high 20 Cron Tasks Viewer 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 Text Prompter – Unlimited chatgpt text prompts for openai tasks 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 22 Dr. Criativo Consent 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 Dr. Speed: AI Assets Scanner – Debloat & Dequeue Unused CSS/JS — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 Finachub Mobile Money Checkout for WooCommerce (M-Pesa, Airtel, MTN) 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 5 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.