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

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 “inspire”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Visual Bible Verse of the Day Widget shows at wp.org #5 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

NextMove Lite – Thank You Page for WooCommerce places #10 on merit, 4.7★ from 150 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 MaxButtons – Create buttons 70K+ · 4.9★ (1093) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 I Inspire Commerce Gateway for WooCommerce 10K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Widgets for Reviews & Recommendations 8K+ · 4.6★ (98) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Free Shipping Label and Progress Bar for WooCommerce 5K+ · 5.0★ (43) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Pinterest for WooCommerce 200K+ · 2.3★ (68) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 Quiz Cat – WordPress Quiz Plugin 4K+ · 4.7★ (35) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too low 9 Woorise – Forms, Quizzes & Giveaways 1K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #13 4 too low 10 NextMove Lite – Thank You Page for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.7★ (150) wp.org #24 14 too low 11 WP Delicious – Recipe Plugin for Food Bloggers (formerly Delicious Recipes) 4K+ · 4.9★ (72) wp.org #22 ↑2 11 too low 12 Shared Albums for Google Photos 500+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #11 ↑1 1 too high 13 Which Elementor Addon 400+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #23 10 too low 14 Compressed Emoji 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #7 7 too high 15 Auction Feed 90+ · 4.6★ (8) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too high 16 Visual Bible Verse of the Day Widget 1K+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #5 11 too high 17 FluentAffiliate – Affiliate Program Management Suite, Affiliates Manager 2K+ · 4.6★ (7) wp.org #17 18 Drip for Gravity Forms 400+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #12 ↓2 6 too high 19 Advanced Call To Action Block 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓1 4 too high 20 TrackFree – All-In-One WooCommerce Order Tracking 100+ · 3.6★ (5) wp.org #19 ↑1 1 too high 21 Variation Auto Expire For WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 22 Experience API for TutorLMS by GrassBlade 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 Experience API for LifterLMS by Grassblade 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too high 24 Experience API for LearnPress by GrassBlade 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 8 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.