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

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 “islands”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 3 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

Rapyd Payment Extension for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #7 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 1.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 YaMaps for WordPress Plugin 10K+ · 4.8★ (40) wp.org #3 ↑1 2 too low 2 WC – APG NIF/CIF/NIE Field 10K+ · 4.8★ (23) wp.org #2 3 All Currencies for WooCommerce 900+ · 3.8★ (9) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 WooCommerce Shipping 70K+ · 2.0★ (18) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Tides Today UK and Ireland tide times 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 Scotiabank Payment Gateway for WooCommerce 10+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #9 ↑2 3 too low 7 Verse of the Day Widget for WP 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 Show State Field for WooCommerce 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 ↑1 3 too high 9 Minor Islands Shipping for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too high 10 Hello Poppet 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↑1 3 too low 11 EU Parcel Tariff for WooCommerce — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↑2 12 Restrictor de Envíos España — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↑2 3 too low 13 VIESAC – Free VAT Validation for WooCommerce 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 Japan Clickable Map 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↑2 3 too low 15 O Oce’Relay Point Relais — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↑2 3 too low 16 HaywoodTech Conditional Shipping for WooCommerce — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↑1 2 too high 17 ingenidev UK Zones and Counties for WC — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↑1 3 too low 18 Linkbraid – Internal Linking, Link Map & Broken Link Checker — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↑2 2 too high 19 The Canary Events Display — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Region Lock – Hide States & Provinces at Checkout for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Verifactu para WooCommerce (Finseed) — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↑2 22 Events in Gozo 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓3 3 too high 23 Teamgate CRM Forms for WordPress 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↑1 24 Rapyd Payment Extension for WooCommerce 500+ · 1.0★ (2) wp.org #7 ↑1 17 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.