Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “france”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 7 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

ShipStation for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #13 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 40K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.3★ average from 13 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

OAuth Single Sign On – SSO (OAuth Client) places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 327 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. 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 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Category Order and Taxonomy Terms Order 500K+ · 4.5★ (162) wp.org #4 5 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too low 6 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #5 ↑2 1 too high 7 Table Field Add-on for ACF and SCF 50K+ · 4.9★ (60) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 MapGeo – Interactive Geo Maps 30K+ · 4.4★ (65) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Product Feed Manager for WooCommerce – CTX Feed – Support 220+ Shopping, AI & Social Channels 90K+ · 4.6★ (838) wp.org #15 ↓1 6 too low 10 Gallery Lightbox 10K+ · 4.7★ (106) wp.org #18 ↑2 8 too low 11 Product Customer List for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.9★ (75) wp.org #16 ↑1 5 too low 12 OAuth Single Sign On – SSO (OAuth Client) 6K+ · 4.9★ (327) wp.org #23 ↓7 11 too low 13 HTML5 Maps 4K+ · 4.6★ (45) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too low 14 Mollie Payments for WooCommerce 100K+ · 3.6★ (69) wp.org #8 ↑5 6 too high 15 Payment Gateway for PayPal on WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.4★ (73) wp.org #12 3 too high 16 Asesor de Cookies RGPD para normativa europea 20K+ · 3.9★ (59) wp.org #20 ↑3 4 too low 17 Colissimo shipping methods for WooCommerce 10K+ · 3.7★ (28) wp.org #10 ↓5 7 too high 18 Location Pack for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #11 ↓1 7 too high 19 WC – APG NIF/CIF/NIE Field 10K+ · 4.8★ (23) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Keyword Research Tool 700+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 ShipStation for WooCommerce 40K+ · 3.3★ (13) wp.org #13 ↓2 8 too high 22 MyWP Block Pattern – Block Pattern Builder for WordPress 300+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 Marques de France 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↑2 6 too high 24 SizeSync – Size Chart & Size Guide for WooCommerce 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓1 5 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.