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

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 “drip”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 3 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

Mailster WordPress Newsletter Plugin shows at wp.org #7 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 7K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.5★ average from 8 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 #9 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 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #4 ↓1 3 too low 2 Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution 100K+ · 4.4★ (590) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Drip – Marketing Automation for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Header Footer Code Manager 600K+ · 4.9★ (309) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too low 6 Email Marketing for WooCommerce by Omnisend 40K+ · 4.9★ (169) wp.org #10 ↑4 4 too low 7 Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 WP Fusion Lite – Marketing Automation and CRM Integration for WordPress 4K+ · 5.0★ (69) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #22 ↓1 13 too low 10 Drip for Gravity Forms 500+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #2 ↑2 8 too high 11 Events Made Easy 1K+ · 4.6★ (111) wp.org #14 ↓1 3 too low 12 Uncanny Toolkit for LearnDash 20K+ · 4.8★ (105) wp.org #19 ↑3 7 too low 13 MailMunch – Grow your Email List 5K+ · 4.7★ (241) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 Email Subscribers & Newsletters by Icegram Express – Email Marketing, Post Notifications & WooCommerce Marekting Automation for WordPress 50K+ · 4.6★ (1170) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 PushEngage – Web Push Notifications, WooCommerce Automation & Chat Widget 8K+ · 4.3★ (37) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too high 16 FluentCommunity – Ultra-Fast High-Performance Social Network, Community, LMS & Online Courses 8K+ · 4.8★ (96) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 Landingi Landing Pages 2K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #18 ↓1 1 too low 18 Noptin – Newsletter, New Post Notifications & Email Automation 10K+ · 4.5★ (120) wp.org #20 ↓2 2 too low 19 Arigato Autoresponder and Newsletter 500+ · 4.7★ (34) wp.org #24 ↓5 5 too low 20 Mailster WordPress Newsletter Plugin 7K+ · 3.5★ (8) wp.org #7 13 too high 21 Email Marketing by EmailOctopus 4K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #11 ↓1 10 too high 22 Thrive Automator 10K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #17 5 too high 23 Sensei LMS – Online Courses, Quizzes, & Learning 9K+ · 3.5★ (40) wp.org #23 ↓3 24 HT Contact Form – Drag & Drop Form Builder for WordPress 10K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #12 ↓1 12 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.