Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “hello dolly”

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 “hello dolly”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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 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

Archivum Inactive Archiver shows at wp.org #16 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 10+ 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

Loco Translate places #3 on merit, 4.8★ from 453 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Hello Dolly 600K+ · 4.4★ (177) wp.org #1 2 Plugin Check (PCP) 10K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #2 3 Loco Translate 1M+ · 4.8★ (453) wp.org #24 21 too low 4 Email No Bot – Prevent bots from detecting emails 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Hello World 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Selfish Fresh Start 20+ · 4.0★ (5) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 C CleanUp WP — · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #14 ↓1 7 too low 8 Hello Dolly For Your Song 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 H Hello Ziggy — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 Hello Poppet 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 2 too high 11 Hello HAL 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Hello Hollywood 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 Lyrics by Eminem 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too high 14 Fresh Install Assistant (FIA) — · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↓1 5 too low 15 Bye Felisha 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too high 16 Freshly 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↑6 3 too high 17 One Click Start 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓1 2 too high 18 Tida Quotes — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓1 1 too high 19 H Hola Emprendedor — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓1 1 too high 20 DS-Web Random Quotes for Kaamelott — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 21 Archivum Inactive Archiver 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too high 22 Gaudério 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 Plugin Info Cards — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 M MID GeoShield Access Manager — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 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.