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

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 “international”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 6 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

International Telephone Field For Elementor Form shows at wp.org #6 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields places #4 on merit, 4.8★ from 418 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #7 ↓1 4 too low 4 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #13 ↓2 9 too low 5 Price Based on Country for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.8★ (262) wp.org #9 ↓2 4 too low 6 morkva UA Shipping – Nova Poshta, Ukrposhta, Rozetka, Nova Global 1K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Hreflang Manager – Hreflang Implementation for International SEO 8K+ · 4.7★ (9) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #5 ↑4 3 too high 9 International Telephone Input With Flags And Dial Codes 1K+ · 4.1★ (7) wp.org #3 6 too high 10 Advanced Shipment Tracking for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.5★ (355) wp.org #14 4 too low 11 Shipping Live Rates for USPS for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.7★ (30) wp.org #12 ↑3 1 too low 12 F Featured Image Admin Thumb 20K+ · 4.7★ (40) wp.org #18 ↓2 6 too low 13 Mollie Payments for WooCommerce 100K+ · 3.6★ (69) wp.org #10 ↓2 3 too high 14 Packlink PRO for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.4★ (263) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 Australia Post WooCommerce Extension 3K+ · 4.4★ (19) wp.org #16 ↓3 1 too low 16 Shipping Live Rates for FedEx for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.4★ (27) wp.org #19 3 too low 17 DHL Shipping Germany for WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.0★ (47) wp.org #17 ↓3 18 Country Code For Elementor Form Telephone Field 10K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #22 ↓2 4 too low 19 Telephone field for Elementor Forms 4K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #15 ↓3 4 too high 20 Royal Mail Shipping Calculator for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.4★ (8) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 UddoktaPay 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #20 ↓3 1 too high 22 Razorpay for WooCommerce 100K+ · 2.5★ (23) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 International Telephone Field For Elementor Form 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 ↓1 17 too high 24 Inpost International 200+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↓1 13 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.