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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “local magic”

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 “local magic”, we and wp.org disagree 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

Local Magic shows at wp.org #5 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

miniOrange 2FA – Two Factor Authentication for WordPress (Passkey, OTP, SMS, Email, Google Authenticator) places #9 on merit, 4.5★ from 385 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 OMGF | GDPR/DSGVO Compliant, Faster Google Fonts. Easy. 300K+ · 4.7★ (213) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Generate Images (AI) – Magic Post Thumbnail 5K+ · 4.3★ (25) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Alt Magic: AI Image Alt Text Generator for WP & Image Rename 2K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 Responsive Lightbox & Gallery 100K+ · 4.9★ (2003) wp.org #13 ↓1 7 too low 7 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #15 ↓1 8 too low 8 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (199) wp.org #12 ↓1 4 too low 9 miniOrange 2FA – Two Factor Authentication for WordPress (Passkey, OTP, SMS, Email, Google Authenticator) 10K+ · 4.5★ (385) wp.org #22 13 too low 10 Head & Footer Code 100K+ · 5.0★ (51) wp.org #17 ↓1 7 too low 11 Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373) wp.org #24 13 too low 12 Fluent Support – Helpdesk & Customer Support Ticket System 10K+ · 4.6★ (69) wp.org #18 ↓1 6 too low 13 Magic Export & Import 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #4 9 too high 14 Include Mastodon Feed 800+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #14 ↓1 15 Magic Product Video for WooCommerce – Self-Hosted Product Video Gallery 20+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #9 ↓2 6 too high 16 Everest Backup – WordPress Cloud Backup, Migration, Restore & Cloning Plugin 3K+ · 4.4★ (45) wp.org #20 ↓1 4 too low 17 Images to WebP 9K+ · 4.4★ (32) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too low 18 InstaWP Connect – 1-click WP Staging & Migration 40K+ · 4.5★ (12) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too high 19 BA Book Everything 10K+ · 4.2★ (20) wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too low 20 Social Login, Passkeys, Magic Link & Email OTP – Passwordless Login by VentraConnect 90+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #10 ↓2 10 too high 21 LWS Optimize – All-in-One Speed Booster & Cache Tools 20K+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #23 ↓1 2 too low 22 Magic Copy for Elementor – Cross Domain Copy Paste & Page Duplicator 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 ↑2 14 too high 23 Local Magic 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 18 too high 24 Magic Conversation For Gravity Forms 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↓2 13 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.