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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “filtered faqs”

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 “filtered faqs”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

Filter for Elementor shows at wp.org #12 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 700+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Appointment Hour Booking – Booking Calendar places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 524 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Quick and Easy FAQs 10K+ · 4.6★ (36) wp.org #1 2 PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce 300K+ · 5.0★ (1865) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Helpie FAQ — Accordion, Docs & Knowledge Base 8K+ · 4.5★ (80) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #4 ↑7 5 WebberZone Top 10 — Popular Posts 10K+ · 4.6★ (102) wp.org #5 6 Custom Product Tabs for WooCommerce & WordPress Tabs Builder – Smart Tabs 10K+ · 4.9★ (134) wp.org #8 ↓4 2 too low 7 Beautiful taxonomy filters 2K+ · 4.9★ (68) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Visitor Traffic Real Time Statistics 30K+ · 4.1★ (233) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 WP Media Category Management 6K+ · 4.7★ (35) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 Appointment Hour Booking – Booking Calendar 10K+ · 4.9★ (524) wp.org #18 8 too low 11 Email Encoder – Protect Email Addresses and Phone Numbers 90K+ · 4.9★ (94) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too low 12 WP-PageNavi 400K+ · 4.7★ (149) wp.org #16 ↓11 4 too low 13 W4 Post List 3K+ · 4.7★ (94) wp.org #15 ↓2 2 too low 14 EU Withdrawal and Legal Guarantee Compliance 1K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #11 ↓3 3 too high 15 F4 Media Taxonomies 1K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #10 ↓1 5 too high 16 The Events Calendar Shortcode & Block 10K+ · 4.7★ (101) wp.org #23 ↓3 7 too low 17 Random Content 3K+ · 4.8★ (35) wp.org #17 ↓2 18 VigIA – AI Visibility, Analytics & Control 2K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #14 4 too high 19 Job Postings 10K+ · 4.4★ (58) wp.org #19 ↓3 20 Einsatzverwaltung 1K+ · 4.9★ (17) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 Filter for Elementor 700+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #12 ↓2 9 too high 22 AI Product Tools – Bulk Product Content Generator & AI Toolkit for WooCommerce 500+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 Recently 300+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #20 ↓3 3 too high 24 Heroic Table of Contents 5K+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #24 ↓2

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.