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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “easy property listings”

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 “easy property listings”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Import into Easy Property Listings shows at wp.org #2 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 14 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

All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall places #10 on merit, 4.7★ from 1,720 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

How this rank is calculated

Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.

A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.

A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.

Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Easy Property Listings 5K+ · 4.7★ (112) wp.org #1 2 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (592) wp.org #3 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 3 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7,322) wp.org #7 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 4 Easy Appointments 10K+ · 4.3★ (131) wp.org #5 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 5 HivePress – Business Directory, Listings & Classified Ads Plugin 10K+ · 4.9★ (222) wp.org #10 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 6 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #4 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 7 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8,716) wp.org #15 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 8 places below merit 8 Easy Accordion – AI-Powered FAQ & Accordion Blocks, Product FAQ 70K+ · 4.9★ (358) wp.org #13 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 9 Events Made Easy 1K+ · 4.6★ (111) wp.org #9 ↓1 10 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1,720) wp.org #19 ↑5 wp.org ranks it 9 places below merit 11 WP Maps – Google Maps, OpenStreetMap, Mapbox, Store Locator with Search, Filters & Listings 60K+ · 4.3★ (122) wp.org #14 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 12 Houzez Property Feed 1K+ · 4.7★ (11) wp.org #6 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 6 places above merit 13 Listings for Appfolio 200+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #11 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 14 EventPrime – Events Calendar, Bookings, Tickets & AI 7K+ · 4.4★ (86) wp.org #24 ↓6 wp.org ranks it 10 places below merit 15 Essential Real Estate 7K+ · 4.3★ (52) wp.org #20 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 16 Import into Easy Property Listings 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #2 wp.org ranks it 14 places above merit 17 WP All Import – Job Listing Import for WP Job Manager 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit 18 WP All Import – Listings Import for Listify 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 19 WP All Import – Property Import for RealHomes 700+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #8 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 11 places above merit 20 WP All Import – Property Import for Pro Real Estate 7 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 21 Dynamic Fields Engine – Custom post types, Custom fields, Meta fields, Taxonomies, Listing builder, Query builder and Relations 3K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 22 WP All Import – Property Import for Realia 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 23 WP All Import – Job Listing Import for Jobify 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 24 WP All Import – Property Import for Reales WP 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.