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

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 “experiments”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 2 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

Sigmize: A/B Testing, Session Recordings, Heatmaps & Revenue Tracking for WooCommerce, SureCart & EDD shows at wp.org #7 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

10Web Booster – Website speed optimization, Cache & Page Speed optimizer places #8 on merit, 4.6★ from 405 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 Page Builder by SiteOrigin 400K+ · 4.8★ (1005) wp.org #3 ↑1 2 too low 2 Nelio A/B Testing – AB Tests and Heatmaps for Better Conversion Optimization 4K+ · 4.8★ (99) wp.org #2 ↑3 3 AI 60K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #8 ↑3 3 too low 6 Woody Code Snippets – Insert PHP, CSS, JS, and Header/Footer Scripts 50K+ · 4.5★ (221) wp.org #9 ↑3 3 too low 7 Website LLMs.txt 50K+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #5 ↓3 2 too high 8 10Web Booster – Website speed optimization, Cache & Page Speed optimizer 60K+ · 4.6★ (405) wp.org #19 ↑1 11 too low 9 Quick Adsense 20K+ · 3.9★ (74) wp.org #10 ↓2 1 too low 10 Robin Image Optimizer – Unlimited Image Optimization, WebP & AVIF 100K+ · 4.4★ (131) wp.org #15 ↑1 5 too low 11 Jetpack VaultPress Backup 20K+ · 4.5★ (35) wp.org #11 ↓2 12 Astra Customizer Reset 20K+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #4 ↓1 8 too high 13 Affiliate Coupons – Coupon Display Manager – Excellent Tool for Affiliate Marketers 1K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #13 14 Personizely — A/B Testing, Personalization, Popups & CRO 300+ · 4.8★ (25) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too low 15 AdUnblocker 200+ · 4.8★ (32) wp.org #23 ↑1 8 too low 16 Angie – Agentic AI 100K+ · 3.3★ (20) wp.org #12 ↓2 4 too high 17 Magazine Blocks – Blog Designer, Magazine & Newspaper Website Builder, Page Builder with Posts Blocks, Post Grid 6K+ · 4.9★ (11) wp.org #17 ↑1 18 Opti-Behavior – Self-Hosted Heatmaps, Funnels, A/B Testing & Smart Insights 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #22 ↑1 4 too low 19 Leadpages 10K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 5 too high 20 Sigmize: A/B Testing, Session Recordings, Heatmaps & Revenue Tracking for WooCommerce, SureCart & EDD 5K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #7 13 too high 21 Language Switcher for Transposh 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22 Purify WP Menus 200+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #24 ↓2 2 too low 23 Meow Workflow – AI Agents & No-Code Automation for WordPress 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 ↓1 5 too high 24 Alpha Insights – Advanced Analytics, Sales Reporting & COGS for WooCommerce 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 3 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.