Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “godaddy”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 6 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

ThemeHunk – Side Cart, Ajax Cart & Menu Cart for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #8 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

MailOptin – Popup, Optin Forms & Email Newsletters for Mailchimp, HubSpot, AWeber Etc. places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 438 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1645) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #2 3 WP Encryption: Easy HTTPS / SSL & Free SSL certificate, HTTPS redirect 50K+ · 4.9★ (1146) wp.org #7 4 too low 4 GoDaddy Payments for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Page Builder Gutenberg Blocks – CoBlocks 300K+ · 4.2★ (109) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Fullwidth Templates for Any Theme & Page Builder 20K+ · 4.7★ (42) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373) wp.org #10 ↑5 3 too low 8 C Clear Cache for Me 40K+ · 4.8★ (29) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 Auto-Install Free SSL – Generate & Install Free SSL Certificates 8K+ · 4.9★ (405) wp.org #18 ↓1 9 too low 10 MailOptin – Popup, Optin Forms & Email Newsletters for Mailchimp, HubSpot, AWeber Etc. 10K+ · 4.8★ (438) wp.org #24 14 too low 11 Reduce Unused CSS Solution with Critical CSS For WP 1K+ · 3.8★ (13) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 WP Email Template 2K+ · 3.1★ (35) wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too low 13 Advance Product Search- Voice & Ajax Search for WooCommerce 9K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too high 14 XML Feed for Skroutz & BestPrice for WooCommerce 700+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #15 ↑3 1 too low 15 Reseller Store 1K+ · 3.7★ (10) wp.org #16 ↓2 1 too low 16 Advanced GeoIP Redirect 900+ · 3.6★ (11) wp.org #19 ↑1 3 too low 17 The Cache Purger 1K+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too high 18 Lead Form Builder & Contact Form 8K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #14 ↓1 4 too high 19 Store Opening Closing Hours Manager 300+ · 4.0★ (5) wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too low 20 ThemeHunk – Side Cart, Ajax Cart & Menu Cart for WooCommerce 5K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 12 too high 21 Sellbrite 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too high 22 WatchTowerHQ 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↑1 23 Store One – BOGO, Sales Notification, Sticky Add to Cart & Buy Now for WooCommerce 600+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too high 24 Envo's Templates & Widgets for Elementor and WooCommerce 9K+ · 1.0★ (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.