Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “flatten layers”

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 “flatten layers”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 1 of the top 18.

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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #1 2 SwiftSearch for Typesense 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Flatten PDF with Cross Service Solutions integration — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #3 4 AllTerrain Photo Editor – Crop, Resize, Paint & Photo Filters 10+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 MantaWeb Consent Shield – Cookie Consent Banner & Real Cookie Blocker (GDPR, CCPA, Tikun 13) 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 6 PathCatch – URL Health, Redirects & 404 Monitor — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 7 SyncDock — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 8 Seonix SEO – llms.txt, IndexNow & AI Search Visibility (GEO/AEO) — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 9 SmartCloud Agent Composer — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 10 MEGA AI 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 11 Devlin Checkout Geo Flash — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 1 too low 12 C Capitol GAINS: CreativEngine Congressional Utilities — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 Squishify — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 Foureyed Shortcode Control — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 3 too high 15 Aipogeo Context Translate — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 16 I-Soft File Manager: Foundation — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 17 Quotely Estimates for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 18 STM Smart Checkout for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18

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.