wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “goods”
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 “goods”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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
Ni Cost of Goods for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #6 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.5★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 1281 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.
WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833)
wp.org #2 1 too low 2 
Cost of Goods: Product Cost & Profit Calculator for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.7★ (41)
wp.org #1 1 too high 3 
Popup Builder – Create highly converting, mobile friendly marketing popups. 200K+ · 4.7★ (2215)
wp.org #5 ↑5 2 too low 4 
The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461)
wp.org #4 5 
Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221)
wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too low 6 
Digital Goods for WooCommerce Checkout 3K+ · 4.5★ (42)
wp.org #3 3 too high 7 
MC4WP: Mailchimp for WordPress 1M+ · 4.8★ (1497)
wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too low 8 
XML Sitemap Generator for Google 1M+ · 4.8★ (2233)
wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too low 9 
BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323)
wp.org #9 ↓1 10 
MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435)
wp.org #11 ↓2 1 too low 11 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #15 4 too low 12 
Autocomplete WooCommerce Orders 30K+ · 4.6★ (137)
wp.org #12 13 
Germanized for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (496)
wp.org #21 ↓2 8 too low 14 
Complianz – Terms and Conditions 300K+ · 4.9★ (187)
wp.org #19 ↓1 5 too low 15 
Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125)
wp.org #22 7 too low 16 
WP Chat App 100K+ · 4.9★ (222)
wp.org #24 8 too low 17 
Manage Notification E-mails 100K+ · 4.8★ (56)
wp.org #17 18 
Insert Headers And Footers 200K+ · 5.0★ (135)
wp.org #23 5 too low 19 
Sucuri Security – Auditing, Malware Scanner and Security Hardening 600K+ · 4.2★ (386)
wp.org #20 1 too low 20 
Ocean Modal Window 10K+ · 4.8★ (11) thin reviews
wp.org #14 6 too high 21 
WP Duplicate Page 60K+ · 4.2★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too high 22 N Ni Cost of Goods for WooCommerce 200+ · 3.5★ (4) thin reviews
wp.org #6 ↓1 16 too high 23 
Good old Share 60+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews
wp.org #18 ↓2 5 too high 24 
MC Good-bye Howdy 100+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #13 11 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.