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

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 “heat”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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.

B

Ranked above its merit

Better Hotjar Integrator shows at wp.org #15 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 40+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Aurora Heatmap 10K+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Click Counter and Heat Maps (Free) 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Tasty Recipes Lite – WordPress Recipe Card Plugin with Built-In Recipe Schema 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Crazy Egg 6K+ · 3.8★ (5) wp.org #8 4 too low 5 Wash Care Symbols for WooCommerce 100+ · 4.9★ (8) wp.org #19 ↑1 14 too low 6 Nearby Now Reviews and Audio Testimonials 900+ · 2.6★ (5) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 Blockenberg — 645 Advanced Gutenberg Blocks, 683 Templates and AI Agent for WordPress Block Editor 1K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Reactflow Visitor Recording and Heatmaps 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too high 9 J JTZL's Bot Maze 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 ↑1 4 too high 10 Heat Map Graph 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 XTX Integration for Netatmo 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too low 12 PrintBlob – Free Product Designer, T-Shirt Designer & Customizer for WooCommerce — · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 ↑2 9 too low 13 Entry Reports for Gravity Forms 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 14 Incode Heatmap — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 15 WhoKnew Shield — Email, Phone & Address Security 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↑1 4 too high 16 H HEAT Chatfuel Integration 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 6 too high 17 Haychdev Heatmaps — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 TheAVCoach Weather Station for WeatherLink 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 PageSoar Connector — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↑1 1 too high 20 DadsFam Login Security 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↑1 21 Gauge Blocks for Elementor — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 B Better Hotjar Integrator 40+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 CRMlytics – WooCommerce CRM, Email Campaigns & Customer Analytics — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 PureDevs Customer History for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓5 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.