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

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 “enviroment”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 6 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Permalink Fix & Disable Canonical Redirects shows at wp.org #14 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Table Field Add-on for ACF and SCF 50K+ · 4.9★ (60) wp.org #2 1 too low 2

UiPress lite | Effortless custom dashboards, admin themes and pages 6K+ · 4.1★ (21) thin reviews wp.org #3 1 too low 3

Basic User Avatars 20K+ · 4.7★ (42) stale but ranked wp.org #6 3 too low 4

GDY Modular Content 30+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviewslow rating, top placement wp.org #1 3 too high 5

Booking.com Official Search Box 2K+ · 2.4★ (8) thin reviewslow rating, top placement wp.org #4 1 too high 6

pretix widget 400+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviewslow rating, top placement wp.org #5 1 too high 7 G Generate WordPress Entities 10+ · 4.3★ (6) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #18 11 too low 8

Gkash Payment 80+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #7 1 too high 9

MobCard Woo Payment Gateway 100+ · 4.5★ (4) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #13 4 too low 10

Jubelio Shipment: Plugin Ongkos Kirim Instant, Sameday, Regular, Cargo 100+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #8 2 too high 11

VoordeMensen 10+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #9 2 too high 12

Closemarketing Custom Admin 100+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #10 2 too high 13 S SSL enable 10+ · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #11 2 too high 14 N Nike+ 10+ · 5.0★ (2) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #17 3 too low 15 J JW Woo Order Prefix — · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #16 1 too low 16 W WP Admin Environment Colour Switcher — · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #15 1 too high 17

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.