Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “jane”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 3 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 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

Jane Menu shows at wp.org #3 but places #7 on merit, a gap of 4 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #1 2 ActivityPub 6K+ · 4.9★ (40) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 OttoKit: All-in-One Automation Platform 90K+ · 4.9★ (125) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 EventPrime – Events Calendar, Bookings, Tickets & AI 7K+ · 4.4★ (85) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5 Osom Author Pro 1K+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 BuddyPress Favorite Notification 80+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #9 ↓1 3 too low 7 Jane Menu 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 too high 8 Jane Premium 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too high 9 Old Post Notice 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too high 10 Enhanced Import for SportsPress 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↓1 11 Keystone OIDC 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓1 12 Custom Guest Authors 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too low 13 EffortLess Simple Reviews Editor — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓1 1 too low 14 SiteCurb Listings — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓1 1 too low 15 Spinnaker Dialog Lightboxes — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too high 16 Sondy — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓1 17 AK Simple Chat 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓1 18 Ember Reviewed By — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓1 19 Agentsia Agents — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓1 20 Shortcode Popup Forms — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 21 PhotoFetch — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓1 22 SkyServers Order Raffle — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 Wordnest — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓2 24 Vizito Team Business Cards — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1

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.