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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “first name”

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 “first name”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Change Default Email Sender Name shows at wp.org #5 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 90+ 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

WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 2617 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Name Directory 2K+ · 4.9★ (81) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Force First and Last Name as Display Name 2K+ · 4.3★ (18) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #6 ↓1 3 too low 4 ( (Simply) Guest Author Name 2K+ · 4.7★ (23) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #13 ↑6 8 too low 6 Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #11 ↑2 5 too low 7 Product Open Pricing (Name Your Price) for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.1★ (19) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 URL Params 8K+ · 5.0★ (37) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too low 10 Drag and Drop Multiple File Upload for Contact Form 7 60K+ · 4.8★ (94) wp.org #15 ↑2 5 too low 11 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #21 ↓5 10 too low 12 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #16 ↑6 4 too low 13 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #22 ↓4 9 too low 14 Show Current Template 100K+ · 5.0★ (71) wp.org #19 ↑2 5 too low 15 Co-Authors, Multiple Authors and Guest Authors in an Author Box with PublishPress Authors 20K+ · 4.9★ (114) wp.org #14 ↑9 1 too high 16 Enable Media Replace 600K+ · 4.4★ (302) wp.org #20 ↓10 4 too low 17 Login as User: See the Site as Any User 30K+ · 4.8★ (41) wp.org #17 18 Webheadcoder Multi-Step Forms for Contact Form 7 50K+ · 4.2★ (49) wp.org #12 ↑3 6 too high 19 M month name translation benaceur 200+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #7 12 too high 20 Another Mailchimp Widget 4K+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #18 ↑2 2 too high 21 M MCM Random Baby Name Generator 60+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 ↑1 13 too high 22 Change Default Email Sender Name 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 ↑1 17 too high 23 Block Specific Spam Woo Orders 1K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Auto Capitalize & UPPERCASE Names and Addresses 50+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 ↑1 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.