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← Rankings

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

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 “encoded”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Mailster Google Analytics shows at wp.org #13 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 800+ 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

Payment Gateway for Redsys & WooCommerce Lite places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 87 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #1 2 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #2 3 Email Encoder – Protect Email Addresses and Phone Numbers 90K+ · 4.9★ (94) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Go Live Update Urls 90K+ · 4.5★ (59) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 NinjaFirewall (WP Edition) – Advanced Security Plugin and Firewall 100K+ · 4.9★ (220) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Product Import Export for WooCommerce – CSV Product Importer & Exporter 80K+ · 4.6★ (413) wp.org #12 ↑1 6 too low 7 WPGet API – Connect to any external REST API 10K+ · 5.0★ (32) wp.org #7 8 RPB Chessboard 1K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Export Media URLs 7K+ · 5.0★ (29) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Payment Gateway for Redsys & WooCommerce Lite 20K+ · 4.9★ (87) wp.org #18 ↑1 8 too low 11 FV Flowplayer Video Player 10K+ · 4.4★ (90) wp.org #15 ↑2 4 too low 12 B Bulglish Permalinks 3K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #6 6 too high 13 No External Links 4K+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #9 4 too high 14 Videojs HTML5 Player 7K+ · 4.7★ (18) wp.org #11 3 too high 15 DTX – Dynamic Text Extension for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.7★ (99) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 Message Bridge for Contact Form 7 and Telegram 10K+ · 4.3★ (22) wp.org #16 17 AltTextLab AI Alt Text Generator: Bulk Image Alt Text for SEO & Accessibility 100+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too low 18 Bradmax Player 1K+ · 4.3★ (11) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 Prevent XSS Vulnerability 6K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #22 ↓1 3 too low 20 TheDock Media – Image Optimizer: Compress Images, Convert to WebP & AVIF 500+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #21 1 too low 21 Amazing Affiliates – Toolkit for Amazon Associates with Amazon Product Blocks and Amazon PAAPI5 / Creators API integration 500+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 ↑1 7 too high 22 CPW Media Offload for Cloudflare R2 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 ↓2 2 too low 23 Mailster Google Analytics 800+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↑1 10 too high 24 Source Lens – Code Finder 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓1 7 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.