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

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 “impaired”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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

Accessibility Assistant – Readabler shows at wp.org #13 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Button visually impaired 10K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #1 2 Accessibility Widget by OneTap – Easy One-Click Accessibility Toolbar 60K+ · 4.9★ (80) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Screen Reader Accessibility – WCAG, Text-to-Speech & AI Accessibility Fixes 600+ · 4.8★ (31) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 HD Quiz 6K+ · 4.9★ (145) wp.org #4 5 Top Image SEO 4K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #5 6 Accessibility New Window Warnings 1K+ · 4.8★ (17) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 ResponsiveVoice Text To Speech 7K+ · 3.9★ (34) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 Real Accessibility: Accessibility Widget & Toolbar 1K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 ImgSEO – AI Image Alt Text Generator & Image SEO Tools 400+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #14 5 too low 10 Fix Alt Text 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 Accessibility Assistant – EAA ADA WCAG AODA 100+ · 4.3★ (9) wp.org #11 12 Web accessibility widget by tabnav 300+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #9 3 too high 13 Accessible Docs — · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #22 9 too low 14 Bulk Auto Image Title Attribute (Image Title tag) optimizer (Image SEO) 900+ · 3.6★ (5) wp.org #10 4 too high 15 Smart Alt Manager 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 16 UK Address Postcode Validation 700+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 17 Barrierefrei – mit Hürdenlos.Assist 30+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Visionati 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 Accessibility Assistant – Readabler 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 6 too high 20 Altagonist 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 Hosteria Accessibility 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 22 Eatransform Image Alt Manager 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 5 too high 23 Everyone Accessibility Suite – Free WCAG Accessibility Widget & Toolkit 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 24 Image Alt Setter 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 6 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.