Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “gather”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 5 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

Product Input Fields for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #12 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 4K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 17 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Tracking Code Manager places #12 on merit, 4.1★ from 58 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) – Quiz Maker & Survey Maker 40K+ · 4.7★ (1282) wp.org #1 2 Strong Testimonials 80K+ · 4.8★ (614) wp.org #2 3 Checkout Field Editor (Checkout Manager) for WooCommerce 400K+ · 4.9★ (1056) wp.org #3 4 Product Filter for WooCommerce by WBW 50K+ · 4.8★ (325) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 WP Google Review Slider 30K+ · 4.9★ (373) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 UserFeedback – Create Interactive Feedback Form, User Surveys, and Polls in Seconds 200K+ · 4.8★ (309) wp.org #6 ↑1 7 Photo Gallery by Supsystic – Image Gallery, Masonry, Albums & Lightbox 20K+ · 4.6★ (498) wp.org #8 ↑2 1 too low 8 ReviewX – Multi-Criteria Reviews for WooCommerce with Google Reviews & Schema 6K+ · 4.5★ (85) wp.org #7 ↑2 1 too high 9 Five Star Restaurant Reservations – WordPress Booking Plugin 10K+ · 4.7★ (211) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 WPGraphQL 30K+ · 4.9★ (48) wp.org #14 ↓2 4 too low 11 Bangladeshi Payment Gateways – Make Payment Using QR Code 4K+ · 5.0★ (92) wp.org #18 ↑1 7 too low 12 Tracking Code Manager 90K+ · 4.1★ (58) wp.org #21 ↑1 9 too low 13 Make Section & Column Clickable For Elementor 10K+ · 4.8★ (11) wp.org #9 ↑2 4 too high 14 HookMeUp for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #11 ↑2 3 too high 15 Zero Spam for WordPress 20K+ · 4.1★ (143) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 CartBounty – Save and recover abandoned carts for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 S SQLite Database Integration 5K+ · 4.6★ (12) wp.org #15 ↑1 2 too high 18 Pdf Embed 10K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #13 ↑2 5 too high 19 Link in Bio Creator – Social 2K+ · 4.3★ (21) wp.org #20 ↑2 1 too low 20 Product Input Fields for WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.0★ (17) wp.org #12 ↑2 8 too high 21 Quantity Plus Minus Button for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.4★ (30) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too low 22 Crowdsignal Dashboard – Polls, Surveys & more 200K+ · 2.7★ (34) wp.org #17 ↑1 5 too high 23 Woostify Sites Library 10K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 ↑1 7 too high 24 Texty – SMS Notification for WordPress, WooCommerce, Dokan and more 7K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 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.