Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “expense tracker”

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 “expense tracker”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Manfi Expense Tracker shows at wp.org #2 but places #9 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

Booking Activities places #5 on merit, 5.0★ from 121 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 MainWP Dashboard: Self-hosted WordPress Management for Agencies 20K+ · 4.9★ (2354) wp.org #4 ↑1 3 too low 2 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #6 4 too low 3 Profitrics – Profit, COGS and Expense Tracker for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 The School Management – Education & Learning ERP 700+ · 4.5★ (15) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Booking Activities 3K+ · 5.0★ (121) wp.org #19 14 too low 6 UpStream: a Project Management Plugin for WordPress 500+ · 4.2★ (74) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Bradmax Player 1K+ · 4.3★ (11) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 Blockenberg — 645 Advanced Gutenberg Blocks, 683 Templates and AI Agent for WordPress Block Editor 1K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #3 5 too high 9 Manfi Expense Tracker — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #2 7 too high 10 RISET – Project Profit & Expense Tracker — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 ↓1 5 too high 11 PalmsTrack – WordPress Costs & Subscriptions Tracker 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 O OBOHITO Finance Notebook — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 13 PhilDesigns Clean Invoices — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 Kogility Bookkeeping for WooCommerce — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 3 too high 15 MickSystems – Livre de Recettes — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 16 Hospedajes España – HOSTPN — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 17 Anacoder Calculators – 20+ Responsive Calculators & Embed Suite — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 Flavors Commerce Intelligence – Profit & Inventory Reports for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 NettoProfit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 BizBaby – CRM, Leads, Quoting, Payments, Email Marketing, Forms, Calls & Messages Integration for Service Businesses — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20

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.