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← Rankings

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

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 “entities”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 3 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

Impressum shows at wp.org #10 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 4K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Woody Code Snippets – Insert PHP, CSS, JS, and Header/Footer Scripts places #12 on merit, 4.5★ from 221 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 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #1 2 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #2 3 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Email Address Encoder 100K+ · 4.2★ (160) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Email Encoder – Protect Email Addresses and Phone Numbers 90K+ · 4.9★ (94) wp.org #5 6 Nav Menu Roles 70K+ · 4.9★ (219) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Translate WordPress – Google Language Translator 100K+ · 4.7★ (620) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too low 8 Slim SEO – AI SEO Plugin, Lightweight, Fast & Automated 70K+ · 4.7★ (136) wp.org #12 ↓2 4 too low 9 FG Drupal to WordPress 700+ · 4.6★ (111) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too low 10 Five Star Business Profile and Schema 7K+ · 4.8★ (52) wp.org #8 ↑3 2 too high 11 Insert Special Characters 3K+ · 4.9★ (8) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 Woody Code Snippets – Insert PHP, CSS, JS, and Header/Footer Scripts 50K+ · 4.5★ (221) wp.org #18 6 too low 13 12 Step Meeting List 900+ · 5.0★ (28) wp.org #17 ↑1 4 too low 14 Export Media URLs 7K+ · 5.0★ (29) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 JSM Non-Breaking Space (nbsp) for French Content 1K+ · 4.6★ (15) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too high 16 GD Rating System 1K+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #23 ↑2 7 too low 17 Local Business Schema Lite 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #21 ↑1 4 too low 18 Impressum 4K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #10 ↓1 8 too high 19 Email Address Obfuscation 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #13 ↑1 6 too high 20 CiviCRM Profile Sync 500+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 Table for Divi 1K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #16 ↑1 5 too high 22 B Basic URL ShortCodes 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 23 HAL 600+ · 3.5★ (4) wp.org #19 ↑3 4 too high 24 Koala AI 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.