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

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 “inherit”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

EasyMega shows at wp.org #13 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Groups – Memberships and Access Control places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 382 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 bbPress 100K+ · 3.9★ (343) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 WP-PageNavi 400K+ · 4.7★ (149) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 HD Quiz 6K+ · 4.9★ (145) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 JSM Inherit Parent Featured Image 70+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #1 5 too high 7 Stackable – Page Builder Gutenberg Blocks 100K+ · 4.9★ (522) wp.org #10 ↓1 3 too low 8 Multi-Step Checkout for WooCommerce 8K+ · 4.5★ (49) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Groups – Memberships and Access Control 10K+ · 4.8★ (382) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too low 10 User Admin Simplifier 10K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #8 2 too high 11 SimpleTOC – Table of Contents Block 10K+ · 4.9★ (77) wp.org #12 ↑7 1 too low 12 Feeds for YouTube (YouTube video, channel, and gallery plugin) 100K+ · 4.8★ (205) wp.org #17 5 too low 13 Spotlight Social Photo Feed 50K+ · 4.7★ (171) wp.org #18 ↓5 5 too low 14 3D FlipBook – PDF Embedder, PDF Flipbook Viewer, Flipbook Image Gallery 70K+ · 4.8★ (182) wp.org #20 ↑1 6 too low 15 Create 6K+ · 4.3★ (25) wp.org #9 ↑3 6 too high 16 BNE Testimonials 1K+ · 4.9★ (28) wp.org #16 17 Surbma | Divi & Gravity Forms 9K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too low 18 Hierarchical HTML Sitemap 4K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too high 19 Buzzsprout Podcasting 5K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #11 ↓1 8 too high 20 JVM Rich Text Icons 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 CatFolders Document Gallery & PDF Library 3K+ · 4.5★ (15) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Simple Slider Block – Create Sliders From Core Blocks 600+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too high 23 EasyMega 5K+ · 3.0★ (4) wp.org #13 ↓2 10 too high 24 Kanbanz 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.