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

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 “evolved”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Passwords Evolved shows at wp.org #4 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 400+ 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

GSpeech TTS – WordPress Text To Speech Plugin places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 178 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #1 2 PW WooCommerce Bulk Edit 20K+ · 4.9★ (238) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 S SyntaxHighlighter Evolved 20K+ · 4.3★ (86) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too low 5 Transliterator – Multilingual and Multi-script Text Conversion 3K+ · 4.8★ (96) wp.org #5 6 Dokan: AI Powered WooCommerce Multivendor Marketplace Solution – Build Your Own Amazon, eBay, Etsy 30K+ · 4.6★ (769) wp.org #8 ↑2 2 too low 7 Search in Place 3K+ · 4.9★ (64) wp.org #10 ↓1 3 too low 8 Highlight Search Terms 6K+ · 5.0★ (40) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 Unbloater 5K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too high 10 Xagio SEO & AEO – AI SEO for Google Rankings & AI Visibility 10K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #14 ↑2 4 too low 11 GSpeech TTS – WordPress Text To Speech Plugin 3K+ · 4.8★ (178) wp.org #20 9 too low 12 AliNext – AliExpress Dropshipping Plugin for WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.3★ (53) wp.org #12 13 Cost of Goods: Product Cost & Profit Calculator for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.7★ (41) wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too low 14 Passwords Evolved 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 10 too high 15 Cloudimage 200+ · 4.4★ (8) wp.org #18 3 too low 16 Math Captcha for Contact Form 7 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 5 too high 17 Voidek Auto Schema Generator – JSON-LD Structured Data for SEO & AI Search 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 System Requirements Check 30+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #17 ↓3 1 too high 19 Bizuno Accounting – ERP/Accounting/CRM (for WordPress) 10+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 SyntaxHighlighter Evolved: SASS Brush 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 7 too high 21 POLi Payments for WooCommerce 400+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 2 too high 22 UltraPress – AI Assistant, Chatbot & SEO 700+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 ShareOpenly 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 SpamAnvil – AI Anti-Spam & Comment Spam Protection 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 2 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.