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

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 “elapsed”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 of the top 20. 2 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

Automatic Remove Cart Item shows at wp.org #9 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 100+ 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.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Light Modal Block 2K+ · 5.0★ (13) thin reviews wp.org #1 2

Easy Timer 1K+ · 4.3★ (17) thin reviews wp.org #4 2 too low 3

WP-Cron Status Checker 5K+ · 3.5★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #2 1 too high 4

Lean Player – Video and Audio Player with Playlist for WordPress, Elementor and Gutenberg 2K+ · 4.7★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #5 1 too low 5

Countdown Timer Block – build urgency for events and launches 2K+ · 4.0★ (4) not PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #3 2 too high 6

AntiSpam for Contact Form 7 10K+ · 4.2★ (13) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #6 7

Upcasted S3 Offload – AWS S3, DigitalOcean Spaces, Backblaze, MinIO Storage Integration 200+ · 3.4★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #7 8

Under The Weather 60+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #11 3 too low 9

PV Sort Plus for Cocoon 100+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #8 1 too high 10

Last Order Viewer Tracker — · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #14 4 too low 11

Simple Stopwatch Easy to Use — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #12 1 too low 12

Live Traffic Analytics – Real-Time Visitor & Bot Tracking – Google Analytics Alternative 60+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #10 2 too high 13

Era WebP Bulk Optimizer 10+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #13 14

GIA — GA4 Ecommerce Tracking for WooCommerce 50+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #15 1 too low 15

Automatic Remove Cart Item 100+ · 5.0★ (1) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #9 6 too high 16

Repeat Customer for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #18 2 too low 17

Burgee – Race Scoring for Sailing Clubs — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #20 2 too low 19

Grey Rock Block Synchroniser for Wordfence and Cloudflare 10+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #16 3 too high 20

Incod Image Dimension Manager — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #21 1 too low 21

Titanium Unlimited WebP Optimizer — · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #17 4 too high 22

Brainstorm Cafe Podcast Player 10+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #22 23

VideoLume Rewards — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #23 24

Pairsly – Memory Game — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #24

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.