Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “hidden category”

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 “hidden category”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

P

Ranked above its merit

PE Category Filter shows at wp.org #8 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 200+ 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

Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager places #11 on merit, 5.0★ from 1526 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★ (27820) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Ultimate Category Excluder 50K+ · 4.3★ (78) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Category AJAX Filter – Posts, Custom Post Types & Product Filter 6K+ · 4.9★ (158) wp.org #3 4 Category Posts in Custom Menu 2K+ · 4.8★ (43) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 PublishPress Taxonomies – Tag, Category, and Taxonomy Manager – Autotagger Automatically Add Terms 40K+ · 4.6★ (195) wp.org #9 ↑3 4 too low 6 Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too low 7 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #16 8 too low 9 WPB Accordion Menu – Collapsible Vertical Sidebar Responsive Mobile Menu – WooCommerce Category Accordion 10K+ · 4.4★ (54) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too high 10 WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312) wp.org #15 ↑1 5 too low 11 Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1526) wp.org #22 11 too low 12 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #20 ↑2 8 too low 13 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #19 6 too low 14 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #23 ↓2 9 too low 15 Blog Filter – Post Grid Filter by Category or Tag 7K+ · 4.9★ (81) wp.org #13 ↑2 2 too high 16 Hide Category by User Role for WooCommerce 300+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #4 12 too high 17 Product Category Slider for WooCommerce 700+ · 4.0★ (20) wp.org #10 ↑1 7 too high 18 Hide Categories and Products for Woocommerce 10K+ · 4.1★ (29) wp.org #12 ↑1 6 too high 19 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #24 ↓7 5 too low 20 Category Description for WooCommerce 700+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 14 too high 21 VK Blocks 100K+ · 4.8★ (6) wp.org #21 ↑2 22 Page Visits Counter – Lite 5K+ · 4.0★ (7) wp.org #17 ↑1 5 too high 23 P Product Categories/Tags Bottom Description for WooCommerce 3K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #18 ↑2 5 too high 24 P PE Category Filter 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 ↑1 16 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.