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

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 “flight”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Print.com Print on Demand shows at wp.org #12 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 90+ installs carry it up the search order; its 1.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Ultimate CSV Importer – WordPress CSV, XML & Excel Import Export 20K+ · 4.4★ (593) wp.org #4 ↑1 3 too low 2 E-cab Taxi Booking Manager for Woocommerce 2K+ · 4.9★ (28) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 WPBot – AI ChatBot for Live Support, Lead Generation, WordPress Automation, AI Services 5K+ · 4.7★ (124) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 AfterShip Tracking – All-In-One WooCommerce Order Tracking (Free plan available) 7K+ · 4.8★ (633) wp.org #7 ↑1 3 too low 5 App Builder – Create Native Android & iOS Apps On The Flight 500+ · 3.9★ (8) wp.org #1 ↑1 4 too high 6 Finale Lite – Sales Countdown Timer & Discount for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.7★ (151) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too low 7 Schema Package – Structured Data & Rich Snippets Tool for SEO 200+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #20 ↑1 13 too low 8 Travel & Tours Meta Search 200+ · 4.1★ (17) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 Bukza 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 ↑1 4 too high 10 iFolders – Ultimate Folder Organizer for Media Library, Pages, Posts and Users 300+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #18 ↑1 8 too low 11 WebEquipe PDF Search 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #13 ↓3 2 too low 12 AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 ↑1 6 too high 13 Form Flight Recorder — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 ↑2 4 too high 14 Aviation Company Flight Search & Booking — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 4 too high 15 Champlin Pre-Flight Audit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↑1 4 too high 16 GutenDraw – Visualize Ideas with Excalidraw 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↓1 3 too low 17 BuildsByLuke SEO Flight Recorder – Noindex, Meta & Schema Change Alerts — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 BuildsByLuke Order Flight Recorder for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 Certloom – Certificate Verification 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 4 too high 20 Multixor – Multisite Sync & Manager — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 Anrok Tax for WooCommerce 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓1 22 Seasonal Effects & Notice Bar (formerly Halloween Animations) 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 Deny All Firewall 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Print.com Print on Demand 90+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #12 ↑1 12 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.