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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “google finance”

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 “google finance”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 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

Inspiro Starter Sites – 20+ Free Demo Templates for Gutenberg & Elementor shows at wp.org #4 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 10K+ 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

User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission places #11 on merit, 4.1★ from 537 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #1 2 CURCY – Multi Currency for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.3★ (227) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565) wp.org #7 ↓1 4 too low 4 Booking for Appointments and Events Calendar – Amelia 90K+ · 4.6★ (793) wp.org #14 ↑1 10 too low 5 Visualizer – Tables & Charts Manager with Built-in AI Generator 20K+ · 4.4★ (225) wp.org #11 ↑1 6 too low 6 Advanced Form Integration — Connect Forms to 300+ Apps 9K+ · 4.8★ (91) wp.org #13 7 too low 7 Loan Calculator WP 2K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 RSS Aggregator by Feedzy – Feed to Post, Autoblogging, News & YouTube Video Feeds Aggregator 40K+ · 4.6★ (361) wp.org #19 11 too low 9 Financial Calculator 400+ · 3.8★ (4) wp.org #2 7 too high 10 ERP: Complete HR, Accounting & CRM Suite Built for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.4★ (149) wp.org #15 ↓1 5 too low 11 User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission 20K+ · 4.1★ (537) wp.org #23 12 too low 12 zahls.ch Credit Cards, PostFinance and TWINT for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #6 ↑1 6 too high 13 Stock Ticker 2K+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #10 3 too high 14 Payrexx Payment Gateway for WooCommerce 2K+ · 3.5★ (11) wp.org #5 9 too high 15 Money Manager 200+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too high 16 Responsive Starter Templates – Elementor Templates & Starter Sites 10K+ · 4.5★ (39) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 Payment Gateway of Stripe for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.4★ (66) wp.org #22 ↓1 5 too low 18 Boei – AI Chatbot, Live Chat & 50+ Channels 900+ · 5.0★ (30) wp.org #21 ↓1 3 too low 19 Gutenify – Visual Site Builder Blocks & Starter Templates 5K+ · 4.5★ (11) wp.org #24 ↓2 5 too low 20 Inspiro Starter Sites – 20+ Free Demo Templates for Gutenberg & Elementor 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 16 too high 21 Ultimate Loan & Mortgage Calculator 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #16 5 too high 22 Trendly AI Post – AI Content Generator, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Google News Auto Blog 50+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #17 5 too high 23 Smart Forms & Calculators By Embed Sheets 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 15 too high 24 EMI Calculator 600+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓3 4 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.