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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “draft preview”

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 “draft preview”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Okto Shareable Draft Previews shows at wp.org #4 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 60+ 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

Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 4699 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. 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 #2 1 too low 2 Public Post Preview 100K+ · 4.6★ (79) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (195) wp.org #3 4 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #15 ↓1 10 too low 6 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #16 ↓1 10 too low 7 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #19 ↓3 12 too low 8 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #22 14 too low 9 SureRank SEO – Meta Tags, Social Preview, XML Sitemap, Schema & Open Graph 300K+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #10 ↓2 1 too low 10 Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #23 13 too low 11 Share a Draft 3K+ · 3.7★ (11) wp.org #7 ↓1 4 too high 12 Hide Drafts in Menus 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #12 ↓2 13 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #20 ↑1 7 too low 14 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #14 ↓1 15 Secure MCP Server for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and other AI Agents 8K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #17 ↑3 2 too low 16 Controlled Draft Publisher 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 11 too high 17 Duplicate PP 10K+ · 4.4★ (19) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 WP-DraftsForFriends 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #18 19 Okto Shareable Draft Previews 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 15 too high 20 Users Bulk Delete With Preview 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 9 too high 21 Public Preview URL Manager 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 ↓1 13 too high 22 Erdo Draft Links – Share Drafts, Client Preview, Secure Link 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 13 too high 23 Tidy Draft Share – Shareable Draft Preview Links 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↓1 10 too high 24 Secure Draft Preview Links 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓2 3 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.