Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “fortune”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 4 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

BrightEdge Autopilot shows at wp.org #8 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

LifterLMS – WP LMS for eLearning, Online Courses, & Quizzes places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 393 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #1 2 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #2 3 Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups 20K+ · 4.9★ (701) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 Event Tickets and Registration 90K+ · 3.5★ (236) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 OneSignal – Web Push Notifications 60K+ · 4.3★ (360) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 Prime Slider – Hero Slider, Carousel, WooCommerce & Post Slider Elementor Addons 100K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 WebToffee eCommerce Marketing Automation – Email marketing, Popups, Email customizer 10K+ · 4.8★ (54) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too high 8 LifterLMS – WP LMS for eLearning, Online Courses, & Quizzes 10K+ · 4.8★ (393) wp.org #20 ↑1 12 too low 9 AIO Forms – Craft Complex Forms Easily 600+ · 4.9★ (34) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too low 10 WP Optin Wheel – Gamified Optin Email Marketing Tool for WordPress and WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.9★ (81) wp.org #15 ↓5 5 too low 11 LiveChat – Live Chat Plugin for WP Websites 10K+ · 4.6★ (98) wp.org #17 ↑3 6 too low 12 Lucky Wheel for WooCommerce – Spin a Sale 1K+ · 4.5★ (19) wp.org #7 ↓1 5 too high 13 Tarot, Oracle cards, Tarot readings, Tarokina 300+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 Live Chat Plugin for WooCommerce – LiveChat 900+ · 4.5★ (22) wp.org #21 ↑1 7 too low 15 Lucky Wheel Giveaway 400+ · 3.9★ (8) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 Divine Astro 100+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #19 ↓1 3 too low 17 Riddle Quiz Maker – easily add quizzes with unlimited lead generation to your site 200+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #22 ↑2 5 too low 18 AI Powered Marketing 50K+ · 2.7★ (29) wp.org #16 ↑3 2 too high 19 BrightEdge Autopilot 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 11 too high 20 Daily Fortune Telling Cards 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 8 too high 21 VerifyPass Community ID 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↑5 10 too high 22 Weekly Fortune Telling Cards 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too high 23 Spin Wheel 400+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 24 Automatic Multilingual AI Translation by Autoglot 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.