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

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 “esperanto”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

FG Recent plugins shows at wp.org #11 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 9 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

Translate WordPress – Google Language Translator places #9 on merit, 4.7★ from 620 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 FG Joomla to WordPress 7K+ · 4.7★ (336) wp.org #1 2 ResponsiveVoice Text To Speech 7K+ · 3.9★ (34) wp.org #2 3 Delivery & Pickup Date Time for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (282) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Appointment Booking Calendar 1K+ · 4.2★ (92) wp.org #4 5 Text To Speech TTS Accessibility 4K+ · 4.8★ (92) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 ConveyThis AI Multilingual Translation 1K+ · 4.4★ (145) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too low 7 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 Automatic Translator with Google Translate 2K+ · 4.4★ (11) wp.org #3 5 too high 9 Translate WordPress – Google Language Translator 100K+ · 4.7★ (620) wp.org #18 9 too low 10 WPMobile.App – Android and iOS App Builder 3K+ · 4.8★ (162) wp.org #19 9 too low 11 Booking Calendar Contact Form 500+ · 3.6★ (32) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Prisna GWT – Google Website Translator 8K+ · 4.5★ (54) wp.org #17 5 too low 13 Lazy Load for Videos 9K+ · 4.4★ (105) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 Linguise – AI Automatic Multilingual Translation 1K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 Popup Like box – Page Plugin 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #8 ↓1 7 too high 16 AI Chatbot for WordPress by Customerly 200+ · 4.5★ (25) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 SweepWidget – Giveaway, Contest, Sweepstakes, Competition & Photo Contest Plugin 100+ · 4.3★ (14) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 Payment Form for PayPal Pro 20+ · 2.7★ (7) wp.org #10 8 too high 19 GP Machine Translate 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 3 too high 20 FG Recent plugins — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 9 too high 21 Alt Text Generator AI – Automatically generate alt text for images using AI — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 9 too high 22 Howdy World — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 9 too high 23 Pagelean – Conditional Script and Style Loading — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 24 Cartdock – Sticky Add to Cart for WooCommerce — · 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.