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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “hits view counter”

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 “hits view counter”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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.

Ranked above its merit

MWR Hit Counter shows at wp.org #4 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 100+ 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 #4 on merit, 5.0★ from 1,527 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

How this rank is calculated

Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.

A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.

A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.

Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5,043) wp.org #3 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 2 SRS Simple Hits Counter 8K+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #1 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 3 Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167) wp.org #7 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 4 Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1,527) wp.org #14 wp.org ranks it 10 places below merit 5 404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring 100K+ · 4.7★ (321) wp.org #11 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 6 Page View Count 10K+ · 4.0★ (55) wp.org #6 7 WP-PostViews 90K+ · 4.4★ (65) wp.org #9 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 8 Visitor Traffic Real Time Statistics 30K+ · 4.1★ (233) wp.org #12 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 9 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (398) wp.org #17 wp.org ranks it 8 places below merit 10 Filter Everything — WordPress & WooCommerce Filters 50K+ · 4.6★ (154) wp.org #15 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 11 Trace My IP – Visitor IP Tracker, Stats Analytics & Page Views Counter with Email Alerts 1K+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #8 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 12 MetForm – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Conditional Forms, Form Templates & Custom Form Builder for Elementor 500K+ · 4.7★ (509) wp.org #20 wp.org ranks it 8 places below merit 13 Joinchat – Enhanced “click to chat” 700K+ · 4.7★ (189) wp.org #19 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 14 Finale Lite – Sales Countdown Timer & Discount for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.7★ (151) wp.org #24 wp.org ranks it 10 places below merit 15 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #21 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 16 WPS Visitor Counter 10K+ · 3.9★ (8) wp.org #5 wp.org ranks it 11 places above merit 17 404 Solution 10K+ · 4.9★ (44) wp.org #23 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 18 SEO Engine – Smart SEO with AI, Schema & Redirection for WordPress 1K+ · 4.9★ (48) wp.org #22 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 19 Counter-Hits 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #2 wp.org ranks it 17 places above merit 20 Post views Stats 900+ · 3.5★ (15) wp.org #18 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 21 Real-Time Post Statistics for WordPress 1K+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #13 wp.org ranks it 8 places above merit 22 MWR Hit Counter 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 wp.org ranks it 18 places above merit 23 Word Counter Plus 80+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 wp.org ranks it 13 places above merit 24 Weblix Analytics – Real-Time Stats & Visitor Counter 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 wp.org ranks it 8 places above merit

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.