Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “gc”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

SL Gift Cards & Store Credits shows at wp.org #5 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its — 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

Ultimate Gift Cards for WooCommerce places #5 on merit, 4.7★ from 245 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP-Stateless – Google Cloud Storage 4K+ · 3.9★ (51) wp.org #1 2 Docket Cache – Object Cache Accelerator 20K+ · 4.9★ (50) wp.org #9 ↓1 7 too low 3 Stockdio Historical Chart 800+ · 3.9★ (7) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 WP Offload Media Lite for Amazon S3, DigitalOcean Spaces, and Google Cloud Storage 30K+ · 3.7★ (115) wp.org #10 6 too low 5 Ultimate Gift Cards for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.7★ (245) wp.org #20 ↓3 15 too low 6 WP-Memory-Usage 10K+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #11 ↓2 5 too low 7 C Category Dropdown by GCS Design 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 Comments – GraphComment | AI-Moderated Comment System 400+ · 4.7★ (30) wp.org #18 ↑2 10 too low 9 Stock Market Overview 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 6 too high 10 E EntryWizard 80+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 Media Cloud Sync 1K+ · 4.9★ (13) wp.org #15 4 too low 12 Next Active Directory Integration 2K+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #17 ↑2 5 too low 13 Stock Market Ticker 2K+ · 3.7★ (15) wp.org #13 ↓1 14 ConnectPOS | Point of Sale for WooCommerce 60+ · 4.6★ (20) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 Stock Quotes List 500+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #14 1 too high 16 Squeeze – Browser-Based Image Compression & WebP Converter (No API, No Limits) 3K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #21 ↓3 5 too low 17 SL Gift Cards & Store Credits — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 12 too high 18 Sampi Metrics — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 12 too high 19 U Urumi Cloner — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 ↓1 12 too high 20 Optiq — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↓1 12 too high 21 PaintClarity — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 9 too high 22 Stock Market News 400+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #19 ↑2 3 too high 23 Extract Text from Image – ETFI 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1 1 too low 24 EdenPersona for WooCommerce – Customer Insights & Analytics — · 5.0★ (1) 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.