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← Rankings

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

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 “invalid”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Invalid Traffic Blocker shows at wp.org #3 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 40+ 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

Appointment Hour Booking – Booking Calendar places #5 on merit, 4.9★ from 524 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 Ad Invalid Click Protector (AICP) 10K+ · 4.7★ (62) wp.org #1 2 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #6 ↑6 4 too low 3 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Authorizer 6K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Appointment Hour Booking – Booking Calendar 10K+ · 4.9★ (524) wp.org #14 ↑6 9 too low 6 Event Genius – Event Calendar, Event Registration, and Attendee Management 600+ · 4.8★ (17) wp.org #7 ↑4 1 too low 7 A Allow HTML in Category Descriptions 8K+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #13 ↓4 6 too low 8 JWT Authentication for WP REST API 60K+ · 4.4★ (53) wp.org #12 ↓2 4 too low 9 Invisible reCaptcha 70K+ · 4.3★ (133) wp.org #16 ↑1 7 too low 10 Gravity Forms Email Blacklist 10K+ · 4.3★ (15) wp.org #9 ↓3 1 too high 11 WCBoost – Variation Swatches 40K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #10 ↓3 1 too high 12 R Remove invalid menu items 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #2 10 too high 13 ClickCease Click Fraud Protection 10K+ · 3.0★ (8) wp.org #8 5 too high 14 Invalid Traffic Blocker 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 ↑2 11 too high 15 Archivarix External Images Importer 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #23 ↓1 8 too low 16 Protect schema.org markup in HTML editor 700+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #15 ↓2 1 too high 17 Reoon Email Verifier 600+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 ↓3 6 too high 18 Advanced Datepicker – Restrict Date for Elementor Forms 900+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #19 ↓3 1 too low 19 ZeroBounce Email Verification & Validation 900+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #21 ↓2 2 too low 20 Advance Canonical URL 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Customize Private & Protected: Password Form & Prefix 400+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 Shortcode for Font Awesome 700+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↓3 5 too high 23 Email Validator for Contact Form 7 400+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #22 ↓7 1 too high 24 HapiGuard – Invalid Click Protection for AdSense, Ad Manager & Auto Ads 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 6 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.