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

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 “human”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

DevDome Analytics: Bot Traffic vs Human Traffic Website Statistics shows at wp.org #6 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Real Cookie Banner: GDPR & ePrivacy Cookie Consent places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 492 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #1 2 Chatway Live Chat – AI Chatbot, Customer Support, FAQ & Helpdesk Customer Service & Chat Buttons 30K+ · 5.0★ (775) wp.org #2 3 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #3 4 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #4 5 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #5 ↑2 6 Database Addon for Contact Form 7 – CFDB7 600K+ · 5.0★ (1875) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #12 ↑2 5 too low 8 Starbox – the Author Box for Humans 10K+ · 4.5★ (203) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 W WP Meta and Date Remover 80K+ · 4.2★ (71) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Real Cookie Banner: GDPR & ePrivacy Cookie Consent 100K+ · 4.9★ (492) wp.org #17 ↑3 7 too low 11 WP Sitemap Page 200K+ · 4.8★ (205) wp.org #18 ↓2 7 too low 12 Cyr-To-Lat 300K+ · 4.7★ (98) wp.org #14 ↓2 2 too low 13 Really Simple CAPTCHA 300K+ · 4.2★ (131) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (195) wp.org #24 ↓1 10 too low 15 Database Addon For WPForms ( wpforms entries ) – WPFormsDB 20K+ · 5.0★ (131) wp.org #23 ↓1 8 too low 16 Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157) wp.org #16 ↑2 17 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #8 ↑1 9 too high 18 Login No Captcha reCAPTCHA 50K+ · 4.5★ (63) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 DevDome Analytics: Bot Traffic vs Human Traffic Website Statistics 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 ↓1 14 too high 21 WP Sitemap Pages and Posts 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 2 too high 22 Makuruwan Arithmetic Human Quiz 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↑1 2 too high 23 HUMN-1 AI Website Scanner & Human Certification by Winston AI 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↓5 1 too high 24 WP-HR Manager: The Human Resources Plugin for WordPress 200+ · 2.0★ (5) wp.org #13 11 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.