Plugin Pulse
← Rankings

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

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 “empty”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 5 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

Code and Core Remove Empty P Tags shows at wp.org #5 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 19 places. Its 50+ 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

WP Reset places #2 on merit, 4.8★ from 1012 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Empty P Tag 700+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #1 2 WP Reset 300K+ · 4.8★ (1012) wp.org #11 9 too low 3 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4937) wp.org #7 4 too low 4 Filter Everything — WordPress & WooCommerce Filters 50K+ · 4.6★ (149) wp.org #8 4 too low 5 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 Visibility Logic for Elementor 20K+ · 4.8★ (58) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Custom Empty Price for WooCommerce 300+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #2 5 too high 8 P Page-list 30K+ · 4.7★ (89) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 Proxy Cache Purge 50K+ · 4.4★ (26) wp.org #4 5 too high 10 PW WooCommerce Bulk Edit 20K+ · 4.9★ (238) wp.org #10 11 WP-DBManager 60K+ · 4.4★ (95) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (332) wp.org #15 3 too low 13 Advanced AJAX Product Filters 50K+ · 4.7★ (387) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 ShopEngine Elementor WooCommerce Builder Addon – All in One WooCommerce Solution with eCommerce Templates & Woo Widgets 100K+ · 4.6★ (212) wp.org #20 ↑1 6 too low 15 ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117) wp.org #18 3 too low 16 R Really Simple CSV Importer 40K+ · 4.9★ (107) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 XML Sitemap & Google News 100K+ · 4.4★ (85) wp.org #21 ↓2 4 too low 18 Stock Manager for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.2★ (130) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 Bulky – Bulk Edit Products for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.6★ (53) wp.org #16 3 too high 20 WP Subtitle 10K+ · 4.1★ (21) wp.org #19 ↓2 1 too high 21 Force First and Last Name as Display Name 2K+ · 4.3★ (18) wp.org #23 ↓3 2 too low 22 Remove Empty Shortcodes 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 16 too high 23 WP Create Multiple Posts & Pages 1K+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #24 ↓1 1 too low 24 Code and Core Remove Empty P Tags 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 19 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.