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← Rankings

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

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 “guidance”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 5 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

Reddit for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #11 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 90K+ 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

Cookiebot – Cookie Banner & Cookie Consent for GDPR, CCPA & Google Consent Mode places #11 on merit, 4.4★ from 440 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #1 2 Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1645) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6 Cookie Compliance for WordPress – Cookie Consent, GDPR & CCPA 800K+ · 4.8★ (3026) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker – WCAG, ADA, EAA and Section 508 compliance 10K+ · 4.9★ (80) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too high 8 HivePress – Business Directory, Listings & Classified Ads Plugin 10K+ · 4.9★ (221) wp.org #14 ↑1 6 too low 9 FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) wp.org #16 ↓4 7 too low 10 WP DSGVO Tools (GDPR) 10K+ · 4.0★ (116) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too high 11 Cookiebot – Cookie Banner & Cookie Consent for GDPR, CCPA & Google Consent Mode 100K+ · 4.4★ (440) wp.org #22 ↓2 11 too low 12 Disable Comments 100K+ · 3.8★ (25) wp.org #8 ↑2 4 too high 13 Zotpress 2K+ · 4.9★ (66) wp.org #20 ↑3 7 too low 14 Accessibility Tools & Alt Text Finder 3K+ · 4.9★ (69) wp.org #18 ↑1 4 too low 15 WP-Memory-Usage 10K+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #15 ↑1 16 Add to Calendar Button 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too high 17 Heroic Table of Contents 5K+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #13 ↑1 4 too high 18 Z zipaddr-jp 50K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #10 ↓1 8 too high 19 WP Swiper 4K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too low 20 SpinupWP 30K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #17 ↑1 3 too high 21 KeepInMind Dashboard Notes 300+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #19 ↑2 2 too high 22 Web Accessibility (formally known as Ally) – WCAG Scanning, Guided Fixes, Usability Widget 500K+ · 2.9★ (162) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 RTMForm – Contact Form, Multi-Step Forms & Form Templates for Elementor 30K+ · 4.3★ (14) wp.org #23 ↑1 24 Reddit for WooCommerce 90K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 13 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.