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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “fresh install”

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 “fresh install”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

Feeds for TikTok – Keep Your Site Fresh with Your Latest Videos shows at wp.org #8 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

All-in-One WP Migration and Backup places #11 on merit, 4.5★ from 7676 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 Auto-Install Free SSL – Generate & Install Free SSL Certificates 8K+ · 4.9★ (405) wp.org #1 2 WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1568) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #6 ↑2 3 too low 4 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Fresh Forms for Gravity 3K+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #13 7 too low 7 OoohBoi Steroids for Elementor 40K+ · 4.8★ (118) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8 WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565) wp.org #16 ↓1 8 too low 9 WPeMatico RSS Feed Fetcher 10K+ · 4.8★ (514) wp.org #17 ↓1 8 too low 10 Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167) wp.org #18 ↑5 8 too low 11 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #23 ↓4 12 too low 12 Simple Membership 40K+ · 4.6★ (475) wp.org #15 ↑9 3 too low 13 SpinupWP 30K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too high 14 No External Links 4K+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #9 5 too high 15 Widgets for Social Photo Feed 10K+ · 4.7★ (28) wp.org #19 ↑2 4 too low 16 Spectra Blocks – AI Website Builder for the Block Editor 60K+ · 4.6★ (53) wp.org #21 ↓7 5 too low 17 Easy Feeds for X/Twitter – keep your site fresh with live social posts 1K+ · 3.9★ (11) wp.org #10 7 too high 18 Inavii Social Feed – Live Social Proof Gallery 9K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #20 ↓2 2 too low 19 WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments 800K+ · 3.4★ (177) wp.org #14 ↑3 5 too high 20 Selfish Fresh Start 20+ · 4.0★ (5) wp.org #5 15 too high 21 Fresh Plugins 300+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #7 ↓1 14 too high 22 Royal WordPress Backup, Restore & Migration Plugin – Backup WordPress Sites Safely 30K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #22 23 Widgets for Google Reviews and Ratings 3K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Feeds for TikTok – Keep Your Site Fresh with Your Latest Videos 1K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #8 ↓1 16 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.