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

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 “finnish”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

Paytrail for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #8 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Go Maps – Google Map, OpenStreetMap, Leaflet Map places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 3055 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 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #1 2 PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce 300K+ · 5.0★ (1865) wp.org #2 3 Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Table Field Add-on for ACF and SCF 50K+ · 4.9★ (60) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4229) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 Simple Membership 40K+ · 4.6★ (475) wp.org #7 ↑3 1 too low 7 WP Go Maps – Google Map, OpenStreetMap, Leaflet Map 300K+ · 4.8★ (3055) wp.org #15 ↓7 8 too low 8 ICS Calendar 10K+ · 4.9★ (72) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 PW WooCommerce Gift Cards 20K+ · 4.7★ (195) wp.org #11 ↑2 2 too low 10 SportsPress – Sports Club & League Manager 10K+ · 4.7★ (369) wp.org #13 ↑2 3 too low 11 Easy Appointments 10K+ · 4.3★ (131) wp.org #10 ↑10 1 too high 12 CMS Tree Page View – Reorder Pages with a Drag-and-Drop Tree 50K+ · 4.9★ (365) wp.org #17 ↑1 5 too low 13 Better Plugin Compatibility Control 4K+ · 4.3★ (19) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 too high 14 Real Cookie Banner: GDPR & ePrivacy Cookie Consent 100K+ · 4.9★ (492) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 Translate and boost SEO – Automatic AI translation – wpLingua 2K+ · 4.9★ (33) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too high 16 Nested Pages 90K+ · 4.7★ (126) wp.org #19 ↓7 3 too low 17 Event Organiser 20K+ · 4.6★ (140) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 My Agile Privacy® – CMP, Cookie Consent & Privacy Tools 7K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #16 ↑1 2 too high 19 Pay with Vipps and MobilePay for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.8★ (13) wp.org #14 5 too high 20 Bible Verse of the Day 3K+ · 4.9★ (11) wp.org #18 ↓1 2 too high 21 Send Emails with Mandrill 6K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 Kansleri Cookie Consent 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too high 23 Paytrail for WooCommerce 3K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #8 ↓1 15 too high 24 Expire User Passwords 3K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #22 2 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.