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

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 “forecast”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20.

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

Weather Widget & Forecast by Meteoprog shows at wp.org #5 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 60+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Visualizer – Tables & Charts Manager with Built-in AI Generator places #6 on merit, 4.4★ from 225 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Location Weather – WordPress Weather Forecast, Air Quality & Weather Widget 10K+ · 4.5★ (103) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 wp-forecast 4K+ · 4.2★ (23) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 WPGet API – Connect to any external REST API 10K+ · 5.0★ (32) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 WP Travel Engine – Tour Booking Plugin – Tour Operator Software 20K+ · 4.9★ (594) wp.org #9 ↑2 4 too low 6 Visualizer – Tables & Charts Manager with Built-in AI Generator 20K+ · 4.4★ (225) wp.org #17 ↓1 11 too low 7 Subscriptions for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.5★ (180) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 Ventus – Weather Map Widget & Shortcode 3K+ · 4.9★ (13) wp.org #13 5 too low 9 Weather Atlas Widget 8K+ · 4.1★ (41) wp.org #11 ↓2 2 too low 10 Weather Widget Pro 1K+ · 3.9★ (8) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 Metorik – Reports & Email Automation for WooCommerce 9K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #12 ↑2 1 too low 12 Weather Forecast Widget 200+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #3 9 too high 13 Milo Subscriptions – Subscriptions for WooCommerce and Recurring Payments 200+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too low 14 Under The Weather 60+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 6 too high 15 Putler – Simple WooCommerce Analytics for your Store 200+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 Shelf Planner Inventory Management for WooCommerce 100+ · 4.7★ (16) wp.org #23 ↓2 7 too low 17 Visual Crossing Weather Forecast – Real-Time Weather & Forecast Widget 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 ↓2 7 too high 18 HuxxConnect – REST API Connector for WordPress 20+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too low 19 Weather Widget & Forecast by Meteoprog 60+ · 2.7★ (3) wp.org #5 ↓1 14 too high 20 PreOrders for WooCommerce – PreCart 70+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #21 ↑3 1 too low 21 Meteo 700+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #22 ↓3 1 too low 22 WFY24 Weather Widget 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 Tiempo 800+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓2 4 too high 24 Chartsy 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 6 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.