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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “four square”

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 “four square”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Appointments Booking for Square shows at wp.org #12 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPZOOM Connect: Social Icons Widget & Block, Share Buttons & Click to Chat places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 144 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #1 2 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (808) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Charitable – Donation & Fundraising Platform (Donation Forms, Recurring Donations & Fundraising Campaigns) 10K+ · 4.9★ (219) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 WC Shop Sync – Square Payment Gateway and Product Synchronization for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.5★ (42) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 Twentig Supercharged Block Editor – Blocks, Patterns, Starter Sites, Portfolio 20K+ · 4.9★ (171) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 Divi Carousel Lite – Make Carousels for Divi 5 30K+ · 4.8★ (146) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too low 7 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce 8K+ · 4.9★ (86) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 PeachPay — Payments & Express Checkout for WooCommerce (supports Stripe, PayPal, Square, Authorize.net, NMI) 300+ · 4.2★ (33) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 WPZOOM Connect: Social Icons Widget & Block, Share Buttons & Click to Chat 90K+ · 4.9★ (144) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too low 10 FAZ Cookie Manager 3K+ · 5.0★ (30) wp.org #9 ↑2 1 too high 11 Social Sharing Plugin – Kiwi 4K+ · 4.1★ (18) wp.org #7 4 too high 12 Share Buttons & AI-powered Summaries 1K+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #17 ↑2 5 too low 13 Product Badges For WooCommerce 700+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too high 14 BotBlocker Security – Complete security platform 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #19 ↓2 5 too low 15 Really Simple Featured Video for Posts, Pages & WooCommerce Products 4K+ · 4.0★ (34) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 Milo Subscriptions – Subscriptions for WooCommerce and Recurring Payments 200+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 DWL Preloader 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 All In One Lightbox – show any media in beautiful popups 3K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 Ultimate Watermark – Image Watermark, Image Protection & Bulk Watermarking 1K+ · 3.3★ (11) wp.org #15 ↑1 4 too high 20 Xtreme Slider (3D Image Slider) 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 ↑2 4 too high 21 Repeater Fields for Gravity Forms 1K+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 Appointments Booking for Square 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↑2 10 too high 23 Image Gallery Block – Showcase Photos in Stunning Responsive Grids 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 24 Appointment Booking Calendar & Scheduling – Zoe Booking 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.