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← Rankings

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

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 “hierarchy”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Import Export Menu shows at wp.org #12 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.4★ average from 10 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Query Monitor places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 470 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1526) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #4 ↓3 1 too low 4 Category Order and Taxonomy Terms Order 500K+ · 4.5★ (162) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5 Admin Menu Tree Page View 10K+ · 4.6★ (48) wp.org #5 6 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #6 ↑1 7 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #13 ↓2 6 too low 8 Simple Sitemap – Responsive HTML Sitemap for WordPress 60K+ · 3.9★ (72) wp.org #8 9 Query Monitor 200K+ · 4.9★ (470) wp.org #21 ↓5 12 too low 10 Premmerce Permalink Manager for WooCommerce 40K+ · 3.9★ (53) wp.org #7 ↓1 3 too high 11 Permalink Manager for WooCommerce 8K+ · 4.9★ (26) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Advanced Sidebar Menu 10K+ · 4.5★ (37) wp.org #11 ↑1 1 too high 13 Dynamic Widgets 10K+ · 4.7★ (109) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 Flexy Breadcrumb 10K+ · 4.7★ (20) wp.org #10 4 too high 15 Slim SEO – AI SEO Plugin, Lightweight, Fast & Automated 70K+ · 4.7★ (136) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 Photonic Gallery & Lightbox for Flickr, SmugMug & Others 10K+ · 4.8★ (193) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 ATUM WooCommerce Inventory Management and Stock Tracking 10K+ · 4.7★ (128) wp.org #15 ↑3 2 too high 18 Wicked Folders – Folder Organizer for Pages, Posts, and Custom Post Types 20K+ · 4.9★ (56) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 Enable Abilities for MCP 5K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #19 20 Simple Org Chart 900+ · 4.8★ (22) wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too high 21 Import Export Menu 3K+ · 4.4★ (10) wp.org #12 ↑2 9 too high 22 Kwayy HTML Sitemap 6K+ · 4.7★ (18) wp.org #17 5 too high 23 Preserve Taxonomy Hierarchy 700+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 ↓1 9 too high 24 F4 Post Tree 600+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #24 ↓4

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.