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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “hook guide”

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 “hook guide”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 5 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.

A

Ranked above its merit

Action Scheduler shows at wp.org #11 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 20K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.5★ average from 13 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Admin Columns places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 1652 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. 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★ (27821) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #4 ↑3 1 too low 4 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 WP Data Access – App Builder for Tables, Forms, Dashboards, Charts & Maps 10K+ · 4.9★ (88) wp.org #8 ↑5 1 too high 10 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #13 ↑5 3 too low 11 Admin Columns 100K+ · 4.9★ (1652) wp.org #16 ↓2 5 too low 12 Event Tickets and Registration 90K+ · 3.5★ (236) wp.org #7 ↓3 5 too high 13 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #17 ↑3 4 too low 14 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #12 ↑11 3 too high 16 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #14 ↓2 2 too high 17 WP-Members Membership Plugin 50K+ · 4.6★ (272) wp.org #20 3 too low 18 PixelYourSite – Your smart PIXEL (TAG) & API Manager 400K+ · 4.3★ (281) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 Post Types Order 600K+ · 4.5★ (296) wp.org #24 ↓9 5 too low 20 Title and Nofollow For Links (Classic Editor) 10K+ · 4.5★ (23) wp.org #18 ↓1 2 too high 21 A Action Scheduler 20K+ · 3.5★ (13) wp.org #11 10 too high 22 WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments 800K+ · 3.4★ (177) wp.org #15 ↑4 7 too high 23 MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites 700K+ · 5.0★ (71) wp.org #23 ↑1 24 AI 60K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #19 ↓3 5 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.