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

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 “ideal”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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.

Ranked above its merit

UK Address Postcode Validation shows at wp.org #8 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 700+ 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

Calculated Fields Form – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact, Payment, Quote, Quiz & More places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 973 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 Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) wp.org #1 2 Pronamic Pay 2K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #2 3 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #4 ↑3 1 too low 4 User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738) wp.org #7 ↑4 3 too low 5 Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270) wp.org #6 ↑2 1 too low 6 Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116) wp.org #5 ↑13 1 too high 7 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too low 8 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #3 5 too high 9 Imagify Image Optimization: Optimize Images | Compress & Convert to WebP/AVIF 900K+ · 4.3★ (1656) wp.org #12 ↑1 3 too low 10 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (743) wp.org #14 ↑4 4 too low 11 ShortPixel Image Optimizer – Optimize Images, Convert WebP & AVIF 300K+ · 4.5★ (830) wp.org #17 ↓5 6 too low 12 Calculated Fields Form – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact, Payment, Quote, Quiz & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (973) wp.org #21 ↓16 9 too low 13 Payment Gateway for PayPal on WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.4★ (73) wp.org #9 ↓1 4 too high 14 Starter Templates & Sites Pack by ThemeGrill 70K+ · 4.7★ (197) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 Mollie Forms 3K+ · 4.1★ (19) wp.org #10 ↑4 5 too high 16 MWW Scheduled Post Trigger 60K+ · 4.4★ (27) wp.org #16 ↑1 17 GF Mollie by Indigo 900+ · 4.9★ (21) wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too low 18 Mollie Payments for WooCommerce 100K+ · 3.6★ (69) wp.org #13 ↓10 5 too high 19 MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites 700K+ · 5.0★ (71) wp.org #20 ↑4 1 too low 20 Doneren met Mollie 4K+ · 4.5★ (23) wp.org #18 ↑1 2 too high 21 UK Address Postcode Validation 700+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 ↓2 13 too high 22 Media Focus Point 6K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #24 ↓1 2 too low 23 WPZOOM Portfolio Lite – Filterable Portfolio Plugin 20K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 8 too high 24 MultiSafepay plugin for WooCommerce 3K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 1 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.