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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “end date”

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 “end date”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 4 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

WPC Estimated Delivery Date for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #5 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 9 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 27821 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 Front End PM 4K+ · 4.8★ (220) wp.org #1 2 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 پارسی دیت – Parsi Date 100K+ · 4.6★ (130) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 UsersWP – Front-end login form, User Registration, User Profile & Members Directory plugin for WP 20K+ · 4.7★ (183) wp.org #7 ↑1 3 too low 5 Under Construction 600K+ · 4.8★ (1285) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 User Submitted Posts – Enable Users to Submit Posts from the Front End 10K+ · 4.8★ (913) wp.org #14 8 too low 7 Order Delivery Date for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.3★ (61) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #18 ↑2 10 too low 9 Delivery & Pickup Date Time for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (282) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 Dynamic Front-End Heartbeat Control 1K+ · 4.8★ (12) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 HurryTimer – An Scarcity and Urgency Countdown Timer for WordPress & WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.8★ (170) wp.org #19 ↓1 8 too low 12 Post Types Order 600K+ · 4.5★ (296) wp.org #17 5 too low 13 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #23 10 too low 14 WPFront Notification Bar 40K+ · 4.5★ (131) wp.org #20 ↓1 6 too low 15 PI Delivery & Pickup Date Time for WooCommerce 400+ · 4.8★ (90) wp.org #15 16 EventPrime – Events Calendar, Bookings, Tickets & AI 7K+ · 4.4★ (85) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 Availability Datepicker – Booking Calendar for Contact Form 7 – Input WP 10K+ · 4.1★ (42) wp.org #16 2 too high 19 Users Registration Date – Sortable Users Column 3K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #8 ↓1 11 too high 20 WPC Estimated Delivery Date for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.0★ (9) wp.org #5 15 too high 21 Jamie's Front-End Editor for Content Teams 100+ · 4.6★ (8) wp.org #21 22 Advanced Datepicker – Restricts Date for WPForms 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 12 too high 23 Advanced Datepicker – Restricts Date for Contact Form 7 500+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 12 too high 24 Order Delivery Date Time & Pickup for WooCommerce 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓1

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.