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

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 “fetch”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

Fetch Meditation shows at wp.org #10 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 100+ 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

Starter Sites & Templates by Neve places #7 on merit, 4.7★ from 77 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 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #1 2 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too low 3 Go Fetch Jobs (for WP Job Manager) 600+ · 4.5★ (28) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too high 4 WPeMatico RSS Feed Fetcher 10K+ · 4.8★ (514) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 My Calendar – Accessible Event Manager 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #11 ↓2 5 too low 7 Starter Sites & Templates by Neve 100K+ · 4.7★ (77) wp.org #15 8 too low 8 Social Media Feed Gallery – Fetch Posts & Reels 2K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #5 ↓1 3 too high 9 Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP 100K+ · 4.5★ (252) wp.org #17 ↓1 8 too low 10 Visual Link Preview 10K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #16 ↑1 6 too low 11 Fetch JFT 100+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #3 ↓1 8 too high 12 Sign-up Sheets 1K+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 N NS Featured Posts 4K+ · 4.8★ (29) wp.org #20 ↑1 7 too low 14 Include Mastodon Feed 800+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #21 ↑3 7 too low 15 Display Post Types – Post Grid, post list and post sliders 8K+ · 5.0★ (26) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 Rent Fetch 80+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 10 too high 17 Extendify 500K+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #12 5 too high 18 Fluent PDF Generator 20K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #19 ↑1 1 too low 19 Astra Widgets 200K+ · 3.9★ (17) wp.org #18 ↑1 1 too high 20 WooCommerce Tax (formerly WooCommerce Shipping & Tax) 500K+ · 2.0★ (105) wp.org #9 ↑2 11 too high 21 BjornTech Accounting Report for WooCommerce 900+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 BD Courier Order Ratio Checker 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 8 too high 23 Fetch Meditation 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 13 too high 24 OmniReview – Fetch Reviews From Anywhere 10+ · 5.0★ (2) 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.