wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “half space”

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 “half space”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 3 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

MrSeokar Inline Related Products for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #4 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Contextual Related Posts places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 201 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

SlimStat Analytics – Real-Time Stats, Heatmaps & Ecommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (816) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #1 2

WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565) wp.org #2 ↓1 3

Delete Duplicate Posts 10K+ · 4.8★ (153) wp.org #3 ↓1 4

RSS Aggregator by Feedzy – Feed to Post, Autoblogging, News & YouTube Video Feeds Aggregator 40K+ · 4.6★ (361) wp.org #7 ↓2 3 too low 5

Discount Rules for WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.9★ (1395) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too low 6

Image Alt Text 10K+ · 5.0★ (56) wp.org #11 5 too low 7

ThumbPress – Compress Images, Manage Thumbnails, Detect Image Issues, WebP/AVIF, Lazy Loading, Hotlinking & More 20K+ · 3.7★ (117) wp.org #9 2 too low 8

Proxy Cache Purge 50K+ · 4.4★ (26) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #5 ↓1 5 too high 11

Slider Hero with Video Background, Animation 3K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #12 1 too low 12

Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87) not PHP-current wp.org #15 3 too low 13

Tumult Hype Animations 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #10 3 too high 14

1-Click WordPress Migration Plugin – Backup, Migrate & Clone 400+ · 4.5★ (40) wp.org #23 ↓1 9 too low 15

MrSeokar Inline Related Products for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #4 ↓1 11 too high 16

Video Player Block – play videos beautifully on any device 2K+ · 5.0★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #17 ↓1 1 too low 17

TraveledMap Trip itinerary: Embedded map 80+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #21 4 too low 18

Draft List 40+ · 4.6★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↓3 2 too low 19

CPW Media Offload for Cloudflare R2 100+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #19 20

Ordessa – FAQ & Accordion Block with Bulk Add 100+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #24 4 too low 21

Negaresh 10+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #16 5 too high 22

Sell Ads – Sell your ad space. Without middleman. 10+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #13 9 too high 23

WatchTowerHQ 100+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #22 ↓2 1 too high 24

FV Player 8 1K+ · 4.0★ (2) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #14 10 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.