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← Rankings

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

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 “firefox”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 2 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

PushAlert – Web Push Notifications for WordPress and WooCommerce shows at wp.org #10 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.6★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Super Progressive Web Apps places #8 on merit, 4.6★ from 225 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Favicon by RealFaviconGenerator 200K+ · 4.9★ (802) wp.org #1 2 Popups for Divi 100K+ · 4.8★ (442) wp.org #6 ↑1 4 too low 3 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #5 ↓3 2 too low 4 WP Post Page Clone 70K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #2 ↑1 2 too high 5 Speculative Loading 70K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6 Pdf Embed 10K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #3 ↑1 3 too high 7 OneSignal – Web Push Notifications 60K+ · 4.3★ (360) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Super Progressive Web Apps 40K+ · 4.6★ (225) wp.org #19 ↓2 11 too low 9 Compact WP Audio Player 20K+ · 4.1★ (69) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too low 10 Button visually impaired 10K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #14 ↓3 4 too low 11 PDF Viewer Block for Gutenberg 10K+ · 4.8★ (9) wp.org #7 ↓1 4 too high 12 The Paste 9K+ · 4.8★ (35) wp.org #15 ↓2 3 too low 13 Zotpress 2K+ · 4.9★ (66) wp.org #23 10 too low 14 SendPulse Free Web Push 500+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #12 ↑4 2 too high 15 Wonder Video Embed 4K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #8 7 too high 16 GNU Terry Pratchett 1K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #16 ↑2 17 Lightbox slider – Responsive Lightbox Gallery 3K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #22 ↑1 5 too low 18 Responsive Slider Gallery – Responsive Image Photo Slider 2K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #17 ↑2 1 too high 19 PushAlert – Web Push Notifications for WordPress and WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.6★ (8) wp.org #10 ↑2 9 too high 20 Conditional Display for Mobile – Mobile Detect Plugin 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Subscribers – Free Web Push Notifications 1K+ · 2.9★ (8) wp.org #21 22 Canonical Link 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↑2 9 too high 23 Shortcodes and extra features for Phlox theme 80K+ · 2.1★ (7) wp.org #18 ↑2 5 too high 24 Statify Filter 2K+ · 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.