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

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 “ingredients”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 3 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

Tasty Recipes Lite – WordPress Recipe Card Plugin with Built-In Recipe Schema shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPCafe – Restaurant Menu, Online Food Ordering & Table Booking System places #12 on merit, 4.6★ from 113 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Recipe Maker 50K+ · 5.0★ (356) wp.org #1 ↑2 2 Create 6K+ · 4.3★ (25) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Secure Custom Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (69) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too low 4 Recipe Card Blocks Lite 10K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #4 ↓2 5 Germanized for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (496) wp.org #11 6 too low 6 Cooked – Recipe Management 3K+ · 3.9★ (90) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 Schema – All In One Schema Rich Snippets 30K+ · 4.0★ (162) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 WP Delicious – Recipe Plugin for Food Bloggers (formerly Delicious Recipes) 4K+ · 4.9★ (71) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 WPPizza – A Restaurant Plugin 900+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Glossary 2K+ · 4.7★ (84) wp.org #15 ↓2 5 too low 11 Product Tabs for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.7★ (69) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too low 12 WPCafe – Restaurant Menu, Online Food Ordering & Table Booking System 5K+ · 4.6★ (113) wp.org #23 ↓1 11 too low 13 Orderable – Restaurant & Food Ordering System 5K+ · 4.6★ (40) wp.org #21 ↓2 8 too low 14 Chicory Shoppable Recipes 300+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #3 ↑3 11 too high 15 Country Based Restrictions for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.5★ (52) wp.org #18 3 too low 16 Food Menu – Restaurant Menu & Online Ordering for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #24 ↓3 8 too low 17 Geo Mashup 1K+ · 4.7★ (33) wp.org #17 ↓1 18 VikRestaurants Table Reservations and Take-Away 600+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #14 4 too high 19 Swift Performance Lite 6K+ · 3.6★ (125) wp.org #22 ↓2 3 too low 20 Restaurant Menu and Food Ordering 2K+ · 4.5★ (15) wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too high 21 Slickstream: Engagement and Conversions 2K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #20 ↓2 1 too high 22 Tasty Recipes Lite – WordPress Recipe Card Plugin with Built-In Recipe Schema 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 14 too high 23 Blanka private label beauty & skincare products app for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 ↓2 4 too high 24 Scrumptious – Recipe Cards 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 12 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.