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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “feature requests”

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 “feature requests”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 3 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

Changeloger – Changelog, Release Notes, Roadmap & Feature Requests shows at wp.org #4 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 3220 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) wp.org #1 2 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #7 ↑2 5 too low 3 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #9 ↓2 6 too low 4 NP Quote Request for WooCommerce 8K+ · 4.6★ (87) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 Simple Feature Requests Free – User Feedback Board 100+ · 4.0★ (10) wp.org #2 5 too high 8 HTTP Requests Manager 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #3 5 too high 9 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #15 ↓1 6 too low 10 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #24 14 too low 11 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #21 ↓2 10 too low 12 GDPR Data Request Form 5K+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #8 4 too high 13 Changeloger – Changelog, Release Notes, Roadmap & Feature Requests 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #4 9 too high 14 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #22 ↑2 8 too low 15 ELEX WooCommerce Request a Quote 2K+ · 4.7★ (23) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 PiWeb Cancel order / Refund request for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.8★ (39) wp.org #17 1 too low 17 Request a Quote for WooCommerce – Get a Quote Button 6K+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too high 18 IdeaPush 700+ · 4.5★ (31) wp.org #11 ↑2 7 too high 19 Yoast Duplicate Post 3M+ · 4.7★ (538) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 YITH Request a Quote for WooCommerce 10K+ · 3.3★ (66) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 Turn Off AI Features 400+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #16 ↑2 5 too high 22 Multicollab: Content Team Collaboration and Editorial Workflow 300+ · 3.7★ (10) wp.org #19 ↓1 3 too high 23 Product Feature Request 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 Roadmap and Feedback Plugin for WordPress – SimpleBoards 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓1 4 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.