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

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 “justification”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Mocursor Smart TOC shows at wp.org #7 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 100+ 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 FAZ Cookie Manager 2K+ · 5.0★ (28) wp.org #4 3 too low 2 Better Block Editor (BBE) 6K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #2 3 Justify for Paragraph Block 3K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Superb Addons: Blocks, Patterns, Pre-built Pages, Sliders, Popups, Free Forms, Animations & More 80K+ · 4.9★ (23) wp.org #13 9 too low 5 miniOrange Embed Files for SharePoint/OneDrive 700+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #15 10 too low 6 Seraphinite Post .DOCX Source 800+ · 4.6★ (45) wp.org #17 11 too low 7 BlockArt Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder Blocks ,WordPress Block Plugin, Sections & Template Library 10K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 ConvertForce: Popup, Notification Bar & Slide-in Builder 100+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Magazine Blocks – Blog Designer, Magazine & Newspaper Website Builder, Page Builder with Posts Blocks, Post Grid 6K+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 TZM Responsive Block Controls 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 7 too high 11 Dynamic AJAX Product Filters for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #19 8 too low 12 Enable Navigation Icons 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 6 too high 13 Dragon Checkout Guard – PCI DSS Compliance & Card Skimming Detection for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 5 too high 14 GranTech Accessibility Audit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 5 too high 15 Mocursor Smart TOC 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 8 too high 16 Georgian Hyphenation — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 6 too high 17 MyFast Login Guard – Login Protection & Server Info 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 Tabs Block Lite 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 WPYog News 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Snap Carousel — Block Style 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 4 too high 21 LuckyFish Bulk Scheduler 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↑1 2 too low 22 Customer Cloud Gallery – Google Drive & Dropbox Image Gallery 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 Press Review — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 Security Hardener 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24

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.