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← Rankings

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

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 “giveaways”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 2 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

Lucky Wheel Giveaway shows at wp.org #8 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.9★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin places #6 on merit, 4.9★ from 4358 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Giveaways and Contests by RafflePress – Get More Website Traffic, Email Subscribers, and Social Followers 20K+ · 3.9★ (43) wp.org #1 2 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Woorise – Forms, Quizzes & Giveaways 1K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #2 ↑14 1 too high 4 Smart Coupons For WooCommerce Coupons 30K+ · 4.7★ (133) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Scratch & Win – Giveaways and Contests. Boost subscribers, traffic, repeat visits, referrals, sales and more 100+ · 4.7★ (30) wp.org #5 ↓3 6 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #15 ↓4 9 too low 7 Hustle – Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Optins, Popups 80K+ · 4.4★ (859) wp.org #16 ↓1 9 too low 8 Gratisfaction- Loyalty, Rewards , Referral, Birthday and Giveaway Program 600+ · 4.8★ (205) wp.org #9 ↓2 1 too low 9 Email Marketing for WooCommerce by Omnisend 40K+ · 4.9★ (169) wp.org #14 ↓1 5 too low 10 Social Boost: Giveaways, Instant win and Contests. Grow followers, shares, subscribers, traffic, referrals, sales and more 100+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #10 11 Mailchimp for WooCommerce 200K+ · 4.0★ (726) wp.org #11 ↓3 12 WinRocket Raffle and Giveaway Campaigns for WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #7 ↓2 5 too high 13 Missed Scheduled Posts Publisher by WPBeginner 20K+ · 4.9★ (60) wp.org #19 ↓2 6 too low 14 Run Contests, Raffles, and Giveaways with ContestsWP 100+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #6 ↑3 8 too high 15 File Upload Types by WPForms 40K+ · 4.0★ (20) wp.org #13 ↑1 2 too high 16 Sliding Cart for WooCommerce by FunnelKit – Skip Cart & Reach WooCommerce Checkout Faster 30K+ · 5.0★ (111) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Gratisfaction- Contests Giveaways Referral Loyalty Rewards and Birthdays Program 20+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #18 ↑3 1 too low 18 Lucky Wheel Giveaway 400+ · 3.9★ (8) wp.org #8 ↓2 10 too high 19 SweepWidget – Giveaway, Contest, Sweepstakes, Competition & Photo Contest Plugin 100+ · 4.3★ (14) wp.org #12 7 too high 20 WPC Grouped Product for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #20 21 Feeds for TikTok (TikTok feed, video, and gallery plugin) 70K+ · 4.3★ (11) wp.org #21 ↑1 22 Super Advent Calendar 300+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #17 ↑2 5 too high 23 Convertful – Your Ultimate On-Site Conversion Tool 3K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too high 24 Import Shopify To WP 900+ · 5.0★ (3) 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.