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

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 “flying”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 3 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

Sensei LMS Certificates shows at wp.org #15 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 4K+ 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.

Buried gem

Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN places #4 on merit, 4.7★ from 1488 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Flying Scripts: Delay JavaScript to Improve Site Speed & Performance 30K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #1 2 Flying Pages: Preload Pages for Faster Navigation & Improved User Experience 20K+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #2 3 Flying Analytics: Self-Host Google Analytics v4 with Speed Optimization 4K+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #3 4 Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN 70K+ · 4.7★ (1488) wp.org #11 ↑1 7 too low 5 Flying Images: Optimize and Lazy Load Images for Faster Page Speed 2K+ · 4.8★ (26) wp.org #5 6 Simple Floating Menu 10K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Swap Google Fonts Display: Improve Font Rendering & Performance 10K+ · 4.4★ (13) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Slider Hero with Video Background, Animation 3K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #13 5 too low 9 Flying Fonts: Remove Google Fonts & Use System Fonts for Faster Performance 600+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #4 5 too high 10 Content Pilot – Autoblogging & Affiliate Marketing Suite 700+ · 3.6★ (36) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 Marvy – Background Animations for Elementor 4K+ · 4.0★ (7) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too low 12 The Cache Purger 1K+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 Rs Christmas Santa – Snowfall, Christmas Lights, Holiday Music, Flying Sleigh & Countdown 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 4 too high 14 AdX Ad Inserter – Adsense and Ad Manager Ads 80+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 15 Flying Pay 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 8 too high 16 GAM Ad Inserter – Adx & Ad Manager Ads 30+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 Dashboard and Analytics for WooCommerce 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 18 Hash Form – Drag & Drop Form Builder 3K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 19 Flying Pigs Uploader — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 20 ShareLite: Zero-Bloat Social Sharing 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 Flying Comet Games Embed — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Seasonal Effects & Notice Bar (formerly Halloween Animations) 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 LLM Bot Tracker – AI Crawler Detection & Analytics 1K+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 Sensei LMS Certificates 4K+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #15 9 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.