Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “like count”

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 “like count”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Sortable Word Count Reloaded shows at wp.org #8 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 10 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 397 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Posts Like Dislike 5K+ · 4.3★ (23) wp.org #1 2 Comments Like Dislike 4K+ · 4.6★ (38) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 WP ULike – Like Buttons, Voting & Engagement Analytics 60K+ · 4.8★ (283) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too low 4 Like Button Rating ♥ LikeBtn 3K+ · 4.4★ (273) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 Page View Count 10K+ · 4.0★ (55) wp.org #3 ↑1 2 too high 6 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #7 ↓5 8 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too low 9 Social Feed Gallery 80K+ · 4.5★ (303) wp.org #12 ↑4 3 too low 10 All-in-One Video Gallery – Video Player & Galleries for YouTube, Vimeo & Self-Hosted Videos 20K+ · 4.8★ (136) wp.org #16 ↑1 6 too low 11 Solid Post Likes 500+ · 4.8★ (9) wp.org #6 ↑1 5 too high 12 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #23 11 too low 13 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #20 ↓2 7 too low 14 GravityWP – Count 1K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #11 3 too high 15 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 Fix Category Count 100+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #10 6 too high 17 Sortable Word Count Reloaded 2K+ · 3.7★ (10) wp.org #8 9 too high 18 Total Sales Counts for WooCommerce 700+ · 4.8★ (11) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too high 19 Init View Count – AI-Powered, Trending, REST API 80+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 ↓1 5 too high 20 Post Engagement – Like Dislike, Share, Views, Star Rating, Favorites & Copy Posts 40+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 ↑2 1 too high 21 Post Admin Word Count 2K+ · 3.5★ (6) wp.org #22 ↑2 1 too low 22 Show Product Sales Count for WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↑2 4 too high 23 SocialFeeds 40K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too high 24 Review Stars Count For WooCommerce 50+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↑2 7 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.