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

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 “leave”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 4 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

Employee, Leave and Recruitment Management System – Crew HRM shows at wp.org #5 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 9 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 874 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #1 2 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 Maintenance 1M+ · 4.4★ (869) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too high 5 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514) wp.org #9 ↓1 3 too low 7 Converter for Media – Optimize images | Convert WebP & AVIF 500K+ · 4.9★ (1106) wp.org #8 ↑2 1 too low 8 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #7 ↑2 1 too high 9 The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) wp.org #10 ↑2 1 too low 10 W WP Customer Reviews 20K+ · 4.3★ (528) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too low 11 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #18 7 too low 12 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #15 ↑2 3 too low 13 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #21 ↓4 8 too low 14 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #19 ↑2 5 too low 15 Employee, Leave and Recruitment Management System – Crew HRM 100+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #5 ↑1 10 too high 16 StatCounter – Real Time Visitor Stats, Session Replay & Heatmaps 70K+ · 4.2★ (56) wp.org #11 5 too high 17 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #17 ↑4 18 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #23 ↓1 5 too low 19 Mercado Pago payments for WooCommerce 100K+ · 3.9★ (693) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 W WP Photo Album Plus 10K+ · 4.7★ (199) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 PNG to JPG 10K+ · 4.7★ (40) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Weather Effect 4K+ · 4.5★ (30) wp.org #16 ↑2 6 too high 23 SiteGuard WP Plugin 600K+ · 4.3★ (15) wp.org #13 ↑1 10 too high 24 EasyTest – Simplify A/B Testing 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↑1 10 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.