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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “ko fi”

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 “ko fi”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Ko-fi Button shows at wp.org #1 but places #8 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 5K+ 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 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 WebP Express 300K+ · 4.4★ (162) wp.org #2 3 WindPress – Tailwind CSS integration for WordPress 3K+ · 5.0★ (37) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 Combo Offers WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.8★ (17) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 C Custom Body Class 10K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 First Order Discount Woocommerce 1K+ · 4.8★ (18) wp.org #6 7 Superb Addons: Blocks, Patterns, Pre-built Pages, Sliders, Popups, Free Forms, Animations & More 80K+ · 4.9★ (23) wp.org #10 ↑2 3 too low 8 Ko-fi Button 5K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 7 too high 9 Recently 300+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 Superb Social Media Share Buttons and Follow Buttons 6K+ · 4.4★ (11) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 Accessibility Assistant – EAA ADA WCAG AODA 100+ · 4.3★ (9) wp.org #20 9 too low 12 Buy Me a Coffee – Membership, Paywall & Fundraiser with Stripe & PayPal 90+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #9 3 too high 13 VentoCalendar 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 4 too low 14 Jooosi Icon – Modern SVG icon library for WordPress 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↓3 1 too high 15 RSS Chimp – Add Featured Images to WP RSS Feeds (Mailchimp, Google News, Feedly) 400+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↑1 3 too high 16 Lightweight Newscast XML Sitemap For Google News 100+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #11 5 too high 17 Members for Ko-fi 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 AI Image Disclosure – AIDisclara 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Aticolor Palettes – Color Palette Manager for Designers 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 4 too high 20 Document Download Manager 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 NextSite Exporter 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 PDEV Image Optimizer – WebP & AVIF 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↑1 4 too high 23 ERRP: Enhanced Related Random Posts 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓3 2 too high 24 ChamaWP – Monetize With Donations, Memberships, Crowdfunding, Commissions & Restricted Content 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓3

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.