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

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 “inspiration”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

Gelato Integration for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #13 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.3★ average from 12 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Everest Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form, Quiz, Survey & Custom Form Builder with AI places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 375 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 MC4WP: Mailchimp for WordPress 1M+ · 4.8★ (1497) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too low 2 Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Justified Gallery 8K+ · 4.9★ (206) wp.org #7 ↑1 4 too low 4 Pinterest for WooCommerce 200K+ · 2.3★ (68) wp.org #1 ↑1 3 too high 5 DearFlip – PDF Flipbook, 3D Flipbook, PDF embed, PDF viewer 200K+ · 4.9★ (194) wp.org #9 ↓2 4 too low 6 Hover Effects – easily create any hover effect 7K+ · 4.8★ (17) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 Everest Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form, Quiz, Survey & Custom Form Builder with AI 90K+ · 4.9★ (375) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 Image Aspect Ratio Crop Field for Advanced Custom Fields 20K+ · 4.8★ (26) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too high 10 Catch Infinite Scroll 10K+ · 4.3★ (21) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 Disable Media Pages 10K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 ContentBot AI Writer (AI Content) 400+ · 4.7★ (19) wp.org #12 13 Photo Gallery by Re Gallery: Responsive Image Gallery with AI SEO 700+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #15 ↑6 2 too low 14 GS Pinterest Portfolio – Pins Grid, Masonry, User Profile, Popup & Board Widgets 1K+ · 4.8★ (47) wp.org #22 ↑1 8 too low 15 CubeWP Framework 3K+ · 4.8★ (12) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 Shared Albums for Google Photos 500+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #21 ↑3 5 too low 17 Hum 500+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #18 ↓1 1 too low 18 Gelato Integration for WooCommerce 5K+ · 3.3★ (12) wp.org #13 5 too high 19 Thrive Automator 10K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #17 ↑1 2 too high 20 Superb Table (SEO Optimized Tables With Schema) 2K+ · 3.6★ (5) wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too high 21 Flipbox Addon for Elementor 600+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too high 22 Abs – Additional block styles 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too high 23 Chicory Shoppable Recipes 300+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Pronamic Domain Mapping 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓1 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.