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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “future date”

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 “future date”, 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Advanced Datepicker – Restrict Date for Elementor Forms shows at wp.org #7 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 900+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Customer Reviews for WooCommerce places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 1539 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 WP Date and Time Shortcode 10K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172) wp.org #3 4 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Order Delivery Date for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.3★ (61) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820) wp.org #15 ↑1 9 too low 7 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #19 ↓1 12 too low 8 The Future Is Now 1K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 PI Delivery & Pickup Date Time for WooCommerce 400+ · 4.8★ (90) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 PublishPress Revisions: Duplicate Posts, Submit, Approve and Schedule Content Changes 10K+ · 4.6★ (66) wp.org #13 3 too low 11 Estimated delivery date per product for WooCommerce 300+ · 4.3★ (83) wp.org #11 12 GenerateBlocks 200K+ · 4.9★ (122) wp.org #18 ↑1 6 too low 13 Gift Up Gift Cards for WordPress and WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (235) wp.org #22 ↑1 9 too low 14 Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution 100K+ · 4.4★ (590) wp.org #24 ↓3 10 too low 15 SchedulePress – Auto Post & Publish, Auto Social Share, Schedule Posts with Editorial Calendar & Missed Schedule Post Publisher 10K+ · 4.6★ (201) wp.org #23 ↑1 8 too low 16 First payment date for WooCommerce Subscriptions 400+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #8 8 too high 17 Delivery Date Time & Pickup for WooCommerce 400+ · 4.2★ (113) wp.org #20 3 too low 18 Product Delivery Date for WooCommerce – Lite 1K+ · 4.1★ (13) wp.org #9 9 too high 19 Newsletters, Email Marketing, SMS and Popups by Omnisend 100K+ · 4.8★ (17) wp.org #17 2 too high 20 Advanced Datepicker – Restrict Date for Elementor Forms 900+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #7 13 too high 21 Post Date Randomizer 8K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too high 22 Change Last Modified Date 3K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #14 8 too high 23 Advanced Datepicker – Restricts Date for WPForms 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 13 too high 24 Advanced Date Time Field For Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, WPForms, Elementor & Fluent Forms 80+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↑1 3 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.