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← Rankings

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

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 “evergreen”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 5 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

Auto Update Post Date shows at wp.org #10 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Blog2Social: Social Media Auto Post & Scheduler places #8 on merit, 4.5★ from 2107 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 HurryTimer – An Scarcity and Urgency Countdown Timer for WordPress & WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.8★ (170) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too low 2 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 Evergreen Countdown Timer 2K+ · 3.6★ (14) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Archive Content with Archived Post Status 5K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #5 ↑6 1 too low 5 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #12 ↑1 7 too low 6 Hide Posts 20K+ · 4.7★ (22) wp.org #6 7 NotificationX – FOMO, Live Sales Notification, WooCommerce Sales Popup, GDPR, Social Proof, Announcement Banner & Floating Notification Bar 30K+ · 4.8★ (228) wp.org #17 ↑6 10 too low 8 Blog2Social: Social Media Auto Post & Scheduler 40K+ · 4.5★ (2107) wp.org #19 11 too low 9 Revive.so – Bulk Rewrite and Republish Blog Posts 600+ · 4.9★ (22) wp.org #8 ↑2 1 too high 10 Post to Google My Business (Google Business Profile) 10K+ · 4.9★ (159) wp.org #15 ↑1 5 too low 11 Countdown, Coming Soon, Maintenance – Countdown & Clock 10K+ · 4.7★ (183) wp.org #13 ↑2 2 too low 12 Evergreen Content Poster – Auto Post and Schedule Your Best Content to Social Media 90+ · 4.1★ (13) wp.org #4 ↓2 8 too high 13 WebinarIgnition – AI & MCP Webinar Builder on Your WordPress: Live, Automated & Evergreen, WooCommerce Upsells Inside 60+ · 4.5★ (51) wp.org #9 ↓2 4 too high 14 Uji Countdown 4K+ · 3.2★ (54) wp.org #7 ↑1 7 too high 15 Popup Builder & Popup Maker for WordPress – OptinMonster Email Marketing and Lead Generation 1M+ · 4.3★ (821) wp.org #14 ↓5 1 too high 16 RevivePress – Keep your Old Content Evergreen 4K+ · 4.6★ (116) wp.org #21 ↓4 5 too low 17 Social Media Auto Poster – Schedule & Publish to Buffer 7K+ · 4.5★ (125) wp.org #24 ↓6 7 too low 18 Superb Addons: Blocks, Patterns, Pre-built Pages, Sliders, Popups, Free Forms, Animations & More 80K+ · 4.9★ (23) wp.org #18 ↑4 19 WebinarPress – Webinar System for WordPress 800+ · 4.1★ (40) wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too low 20 Republish Old Posts 2K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #11 ↑3 9 too high 21 Convertful – Your Ultimate On-Site Conversion Tool 3K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 Social Post Flow – Social Media Automation, Scheduling, Scheduler, Posting & Auto Post 200+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #22 23 Auto Update Post Date 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 ↑2 13 too high 24 Outrank 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↑8 8 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.