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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “internet time”

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 “internet time”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

WSA – Website Accelerator Cache Purge shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 200+ 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

SSL Zen — SSL Certificate Installer & HTTPS Redirects places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 665 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. 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 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Internet Archive Wayback Machine Link Fixer 1K+ · 3.8★ (8) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Live Chat by Formilla – Real-time Chat & Chatbots Plugin 2K+ · 4.8★ (116) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 WPS Limit Login 100K+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 Docket Cache – Object Cache Accelerator 20K+ · 4.9★ (50) wp.org #10 11 SSL Zen — SSL Certificate Installer & HTTPS Redirects 9K+ · 4.9★ (665) wp.org #18 7 too low 12 WebP Express 300K+ · 4.4★ (162) wp.org #15 3 too low 13 FunnelKit Payment Gateway for Stripe WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.9★ (53) wp.org #21 8 too low 14 Cloudflare 200K+ · 3.5★ (181) wp.org #16 2 too low 15 Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 Radio Station by netmix® – Manage and play your Show Schedule in WordPress! 1K+ · 4.6★ (30) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 Archivarix External Images Importer 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 Conditional Display for Mobile – Mobile Detect Plugin 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 SpeedyCache – Cache, Optimization, Performance 500K+ · 4.4★ (30) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 VdoCipher: Secure Video Player and Hosting 2K+ · 4.2★ (14) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 I Internet Time 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 12 too high 22 WSA – Website Accelerator Cache Purge 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 14 too high 23 Browser Theme Color – Address Bar Color & Dark Mode 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 10 too high 24 Live Traffic Analytics – Real-Time Visitor & Bot Tracking – Google Analytics Alternative 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 2 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.