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

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 plus”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 4 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

Hello Plus shows at wp.org #1 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 23 places. Its 70K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini places #3 on merit, 4.9★ from 874 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 FormsDB – Save Elementor Forms to Google Sheets & Post Type 20K+ · 4.6★ (19) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Nexter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder & AI Website Builder 9K+ · 4.8★ (90) wp.org #6 ↑2 4 too low 3 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #13 ↑1 10 too low 4 Spam Protection | Maspik 30K+ · 4.7★ (87) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too low 5 Cool FormKit Lite – Advanced Form Builder for Elementor 20K+ · 4.6★ (25) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 Conditional Fields for Elementor Form – Apply Conditional Logic 10K+ · 4.7★ (32) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #10 ↑1 3 too low 8 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #15 ↑1 7 too low 9 Country Code For Elementor Form Telephone Field 10K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #5 4 too high 10 PowerPack Addons for Elementor: Widgets, Form Styler and Templates 70K+ · 4.8★ (361) wp.org #19 9 too low 11 Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373) wp.org #18 7 too low 12 GeoDirectory – WP Business Directory Plugin and Classified Listings Directory 10K+ · 4.8★ (716) wp.org #20 ↓1 8 too low 13 Invisible Anti-Spam & CAPTCHA — reCAPTCHA Alternative for All Forms 4K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #12 ↓2 1 too high 14 Lenix Leads Collector 10K+ · 4.4★ (25) wp.org #9 ↑3 5 too high 15 Input Mask For Elementor Form Fields 10K+ · 4.5★ (24) wp.org #11 ↓2 4 too high 16 Icegram Engage – Popups, Welcome Bars, Optins, Slide-Ins & Lead Generation for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (370) wp.org #17 1 too low 17 Email Template Designer – WP HTML Mail 20K+ · 4.8★ (87) wp.org #21 ↓6 4 too low 18 BEW – Elementor Addons, Templates & AI Builder 20K+ · 4.5★ (28) wp.org #16 2 too high 19 Form Input Masks For Elementor Forms 10K+ · 4.1★ (18) wp.org #7 ↓1 12 too high 20 FluentAuth – Login Security, Two-Factor Authentication, Passkeys & Social Login 10K+ · 4.1★ (35) wp.org #14 ↓1 6 too high 21 Xpro Theme Builder For Elementor – FREE 20K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #23 ↑1 2 too low 22 Dynamic Month & Year into Posts 8K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #24 ↓1 2 too low 23 Advanced Product Search For WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #22 ↓4 1 too high 24 Hello Plus 70K+ · 3.0★ (1) wp.org #1 23 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.