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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “lightning charge”

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 “lightning charge”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Multiple Cart Fee – Custom Extra Charges, Surcharges & Conditional Fees for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #7 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 10+ 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

CM Tooltip Glossary places #5 on merit, 4.3★ from 157 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1338) wp.org #1 2 BTCPay Server – Accept Bitcoin payments in WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Jetpack VideoPress 7K+ · 4.0★ (16) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 SureCart – Ecommerce Made Easy For Selling Physical Products, Digital Downloads, Subscriptions, Donations, & Payments 80K+ · 4.8★ (289) wp.org #10 6 too low 5 CM Tooltip Glossary 7K+ · 4.3★ (157) wp.org #14 ↓1 9 too low 6 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #12 ↓1 6 too low 7 Anti-Spam Protection – No API Key, GDPR Friendly 1K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 Stripe Payment Forms by WP Full Pay – Accept Credit Card Payments, Donations & Subscriptions 8K+ · 4.2★ (26) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too low 9 SMTP for Amazon SES – YaySMTP 3K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #9 10 Showcase IDX Real Estate Search & Lead Capture 2K+ · 3.8★ (35) wp.org #15 ↓1 5 too low 11 Bitcoin Lightning Publisher for WordPress 80+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #5 6 too high 12 Speed Bitcoin and Stablecoin Payments for WooCommerce 60+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 8 too high 13 CM Download Manager – Organize, Protect & Share Files in WordPress 100+ · 3.9★ (43) wp.org #20 ↓1 7 too low 14 KiviCare – Clinic & Patient Management System (EHR) 1K+ · 3.6★ (23) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too low 15 AI Product Search for WooCommerce – Motive Commerce Search 300+ · 4.6★ (10) wp.org #18 ↓1 3 too low 16 Zaprite Payment Gateway – Accept Bitcoin and Fiat payments in WooCommerce 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 10 too high 17 Bangladeshi Payments Mobile – MFS Gateway, QR Code, Advance COD Protection, Thermal POS Invoicing & WhatsApp Suite 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 DropAvif Image Optimizer – Convert WebP & AVIF | Compress Images 80+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 ↓1 3 too low 19 Checkout.com Payment Gateway 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 ↓1 20 Multiple Cart Fee – Custom Extra Charges, Surcharges & Conditional Fees for WooCommerce 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 13 too high 21 AURPAY WooCommerce – Bitcoin/USDT Crypto Payment Gateway 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too high 22 AURPAY Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) – Bitcoin Crypto Payment Gateway 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24 ↓1 2 too low 23 AURPAY Paid Memberships Pro (PMP) – Bitcoin Crypto Payment Gateway 20+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too high 24 CloudSync Master – Offload Media to S3, Cloudflare R2 & Google Cloud 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓1 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.