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← Rankings

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

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 “enable”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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 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

Enable CORS shows at wp.org #3 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 6K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation places #9 on merit, 4.7★ from 1667 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 Enable Media Replace 600K+ · 4.4★ (302) wp.org #1 2 Enable Abilities for MCP 5K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #2 3 Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #10 ↑6 7 too low 4 User Submitted Posts – Enable Users to Submit Posts from the Front End 10K+ · 4.8★ (913) wp.org #11 7 too low 5 M Media Library Enable Infinite Scrolling 7K+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Enable SVG, WebP, and ICO Upload 10K+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #17 ↑2 10 too low 8 WP Performance Score Booster – Optimize Speed, Enable Cache & Page Preload 10K+ · 4.6★ (339) wp.org #16 ↑1 8 too low 9 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #22 13 too low 10 Under Construction 600K+ · 4.8★ (1285) wp.org #21 ↓3 11 too low 11 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #13 ↓3 2 too low 12 Classic Editor 8M+ · 4.9★ (1251) wp.org #24 12 too low 13 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #18 ↓3 5 too low 14 Enable Responsive Image 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #5 9 too high 15 Enable CORS 6K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #3 12 too high 16 Safe SVG 1M+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #23 ↑1 7 too low 17 Enable Turnstile (Cloudflare) for Gravity Forms 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #7 10 too high 18 Enable bbPress for Block Themes 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #12 6 too high 19 Enable Mastodon Apps 500+ · 4.0★ (6) wp.org #8 ↑1 11 too high 20 Enable Classic Editor & Widgets 2K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #15 ↓1 5 too high 21 Enable virtual card upload – vcf,vcard 7K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #9 ↓1 12 too high 22 E Enable Contributor Uploads 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #14 ↓1 8 too high 23 Enable Database Tools 50+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #20 ↑1 3 too high 24 Enable Navigation Icons 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↑1 5 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.