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

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 “epoch”, 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 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

Nephila Payment Gateway for Epoch shows at wp.org #4 but places #11 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its — installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin places #4 on merit, 4.9★ from 4358 reviews, but shows at wp.org #9. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Like Button Rating ♥ LikeBtn 3K+ · 4.4★ (273) wp.org #1 2 FAZ Cookie Manager 3K+ · 5.0★ (30) wp.org #2 3 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #9 5 too low 5 WPBruiser Security – No CAPTCHA Anti-Spam & Login Protection 10K+ · 4.6★ (213) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 Simple Comment Editing 2K+ · 4.8★ (55) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 Pixel Gallery Addons for Elementor 4K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #3 5 too high 9 CMB2 300K+ · 5.0★ (91) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too low 11 Nephila Payment Gateway for Epoch — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #4 7 too high 12 VideoWhisper Site Manager for ChatGPT, Claude, Codex, Grok 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 7 too high 13 Connect CF7 to HubSpot – Contact Form 7 CRM Integration 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 ↓1 1 too low 14 Agentic Markdown Bridge — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 6 too high 15 AF Translate – AI Translation Editor, PO Editor & POT Generator for WordPress 700+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓1 16 P PigCache — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓1 17 lihi Short URL — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓2 1 too low 18 EffortLess Timeline Posts — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓2 1 too low 19 A1 Tools 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓2 1 too low 20 RIACO Reviews – Customer Reviews & Testimonials — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓2 1 too low 21 FlowMail Campaigns — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓2 1 too low 22 Rapid Security Manager — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓2 1 too low 23 Kwiro — AI Sales Agent & Chatbot for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓2 1 too low 24 HarborCache – Object Cache with Redis — · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #17 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.