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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “hot thread”

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 “hot thread”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 4 of the top 19. 2 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

AroksDS Submission Alerts for Contact Form 7 to Telegram shows at wp.org #6 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 30+ 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #1 2 User Access Manager 10K+ · 4.4★ (112) wp.org #2 3 Social Slider Feed – Social Media Feed & Gallery Widgets 10K+ · 3.9★ (127) wp.org #3 4 Woody Code Snippets – Insert PHP, CSS, JS, and Header/Footer Scripts 50K+ · 4.5★ (221) wp.org #4 5 Highlight and Share – Unobtrusive and Lightweight Content Sharing 700+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #13 ↓1 8 too low 6 Pattern Wrangler – Manage Block Patterns and Pattern Categories 400+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Kognetiks Chatbot 500+ · 4.5★ (22) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8 Seekmodo Search — · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 FlyCRM – CRM with Sales Pipeline and Deal Management for WooCommerce 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too high 10 Wiscus — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too high 11 LoopHQ — AI Agents & Lead Capture — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Bright Addons Blocks Library — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 Likenook – Like Dislike Buttons — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too high 14 AroksDS Submission Alerts for Contact Form 7 to Telegram 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 8 too high 15 Widg.io social image feed, reviews, live chat, popups and more 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 16 K KASKUS Widget 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 17 K Kaskus Hot Thread Widget — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 18 Extraordinary Comments — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 19 ScribbleLive WP 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19

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.