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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “faceted navigation”

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 “faceted navigation”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 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

MemberKits – Ultimate Member for Elementor shows at wp.org #5 but places #9 on merit, a gap of 4 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Filter Everything — WordPress & WooCommerce Filters 50K+ · 4.6★ (154) wp.org #1 2 Unlimited Elements for Elementor 300K+ · 4.8★ (525) wp.org #2 3 Dynific Addons for Elementor (formerly Anywhere Elementor) 70K+ · 4.8★ (104) wp.org #3 4 Ajax Load More – Infinite Scroll, Load More, & Lazy Load 30K+ · 4.8★ (287) wp.org #4 5 Content Views – Post Grid & Filter (Shortcode, Blocks, Elementor Widgets) 100K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Extensions For CF7 (Contact form 7 Database, Conditional Fields and Redirection) 5K+ · 4.9★ (8) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Yuto – Meilisearch Integrator 60+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 SwiftSearch for Typesense 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 MemberKits – Ultimate Member for Elementor 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 4 too high 10 Sieve – Faceted Filter for WooCommerce — · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 11 Unlimited Elements Blocks Library 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 3 too high 12 OZY Smart Search — · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 6 too low 13 Minorank SEO 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 Opensolr Search — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 1 too high 15 SwiftSearch for Algolia — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 1 too high 16 FacetGuard SEO — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 Fast Filter for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 Opuswerk Filter Landing Pages for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Softlinkster Semantic Search — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 PetMatchPro 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 1 too low 21 NitroSearch for WooCommerce — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 4 too high 22 Tiger Elements – Elementor Addons, Widgets, Slider, Charts & Dynamic Tags 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 FacetRoute — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 TejCart — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 1 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.