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

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 “lifts”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Survey Form Block shows at wp.org #13 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 500+ 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.

Buried gem

GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO places #4 on merit, 4.6★ from 683 reviews, but shows at wp.org #10. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Cart Lift – Abandoned Cart Recovery for WooCommerce and EDD 900+ · 4.8★ (9) wp.org #1 2 CheckoutWC Lite – Conversion optimized WooCommerce checkout 2K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Microsoft Clarity 200K+ · 4.5★ (14) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO 30K+ · 4.6★ (683) wp.org #10 ↓4 6 too low 5 Fuse Social Icons 10K+ · 4.6★ (58) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Product Feed Manager for WooCommerce – RexFeed – Sell on 200+ Shopping Channels 10K+ · 4.8★ (256) wp.org #11 ↑3 4 too low 8 WPMR Google Feed Manager for WooCommerce – Sell on Google Merchant Center & Shopping 10K+ · 4.5★ (127) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Block Animations, Motion & Scroll Effects – Ghost Kit 6K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too high 10 Location Weather – WordPress Weather Forecast, Air Quality & Weather Widget 10K+ · 4.5★ (103) wp.org #12 ↓2 2 too low 11 StoreGrowth – Upsell, BOGO, Quick View, Direct Checkout & Side Cart for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #4 7 too high 12 Chatra Live Chat + ChatBot + Cart Saver 2K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too high 13 Image Optimizer, Resizer and CDN – Sirv 900+ · 4.9★ (265) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 Conversios – GA4, Google Ads & Meta Conversion Tracking with Product Feed for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.3★ (206) wp.org #21 ↓1 7 too low 15 SureRank SEO – Meta Tags, Social Preview, XML Sitemap, Schema & Open Graph 300K+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #18 ↓1 3 too low 16 Caddy – WooCommerce Side Cart & Free Shipping Bar 3K+ · 3.9★ (20) wp.org #15 ↓3 1 too high 17 Checkout Shield for WooCommerce – Stop Fake Orders, Spam Bots & Card Testing 400+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #14 ↑9 3 too high 18 SurveyX Builder – Survey, Poll, Quiz & Feedback Form 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 ↓2 1 too high 19 LTL Freight Quotes – Worldwide Express Edition 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↓3 20 Wexlab Motion Effects for Elementor 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 Survey Form Block 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↓2 8 too high 22 Security Ninja For MainWP 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓2 2 too high 23 Amitry Product & Category Slider for WooCommerce 100+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #16 ↓3 7 too high 24 Edit Post Link 70+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↓4 1 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.