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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “editorial tools”

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 “editorial tools”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Leenkat Editorial Tracker shows at wp.org #9 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Disable Comments places #9 on merit, 4.7★ from 281 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Editorial Calendar 20K+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #1 2 PublishPress Planner – Editorial Calendar, Marketing Content, Kanban Board 6K+ · 4.9★ (178) wp.org #2 3 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 SchedulePress – Auto Post & Publish, Auto Social Share, Schedule Posts with Editorial Calendar & Missed Schedule Post Publisher 10K+ · 4.6★ (201) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Nelio Content – Editorial Calendar & Social Media Auto-Posting 3K+ · 4.4★ (104) wp.org #5 6 Editorial Rating – Product Review & Rating System 200+ · 4.4★ (13) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 Molongui Authorship – Author Boxes, Guest Authors & Co-Authors for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (158) wp.org #16 ↓1 9 too low 8 My Agile Privacy® – CMP, Cookie Consent & Privacy Tools 7K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too low 9 Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #21 ↓5 12 too low 10 AI 60K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 BlockSpare – Gutenberg Blocks, AI Content Generator & Site Builder for news, magazine, blog and business sites 10K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #14 3 too low 12 PublishPress Permissions: Access Control, Content Permissions, User Access 10K+ · 4.3★ (66) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 Create 6K+ · 4.3★ (25) wp.org #12 ↓3 1 too high 14 Peter's Post Notes – Admin Notes for Posts and Pages 3K+ · 4.9★ (26) wp.org #23 ↓2 9 too low 15 Multicollab: Content Team Collaboration and Editorial Workflow 300+ · 3.7★ (10) wp.org #8 7 too high 16 WP Search with Algolia 7K+ · 4.5★ (24) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 Content Egg – Affiliate Product Importer & Price Comparison 10K+ · 3.9★ (56) wp.org #17 18 Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts 5K+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #13 ↑6 5 too high 19 Flex MCP – Connect ChatGPT, Claude and AI agents with MCP, Undo, Abilities and Tools. 900+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #15 ↓2 4 too high 20 Leenkat Editorial Tracker 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 ↑1 11 too high 21 Editorial Workflow Manager 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↑1 10 too high 22 Auto Focus Keyword for SEO 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 ↓4 2 too low 23 Newsroom OS – Google Discover, Google News, Schema & Editorial Workflow 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↑4 3 too high 24 Ansar Import – One Click Starter Sites – for WordPress Themes 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 6 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.