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

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 “expired”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

WP Healthcheck shows at wp.org #10 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP-Sweep places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 138 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Advanced Database Cleaner – Optimize & Clean Database to Speed Up Site Performance 100K+ · 4.9★ (1962) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Delete Expired Transients 5K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 WP Reset 300K+ · 4.8★ (1014) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Two Factor 100K+ · 4.7★ (209) wp.org #5 ↑4 6 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 WPS Hide Login 2M+ · 4.8★ (2111) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 Advanced Queries 10K+ · 4.9★ (40) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too high 9 Mail logging & Catcher 20K+ · 4.9★ (108) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #13 ↑6 3 too low 11 WP-Sweep 100K+ · 4.7★ (138) wp.org #15 ↓1 4 too low 12 Transient Cleaner 1K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #9 ↓2 3 too high 13 Element Pack Addons for Elementor – MCP & AI-Ready Elementor Widgets, Elementor Templates, Elementor Addons 100K+ · 4.7★ (284) wp.org #19 6 too low 14 Optimize Database after Deleting Revisions 60K+ · 4.7★ (181) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 Events Made Easy 1K+ · 4.6★ (111) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 Event Organiser 20K+ · 4.6★ (140) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 WP Coupons and Deals – WordPress Coupon Plugin 1K+ · 4.7★ (125) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 JWT Authentication for WP REST API 60K+ · 4.4★ (53) wp.org #21 ↑2 3 too low 19 Product Expiry for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #11 ↑2 8 too high 20 Download Plugin 60K+ · 4.5★ (27) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 WP Healthcheck 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #10 11 too high 22 Job Manager & Career – Manage job board listings, and recruitments 1K+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #22 23 CodingBunny Database Cleaner 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 Easy Auto Reload – Auto Refresh 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↓3 10 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.