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← Rankings

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

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 time”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 5 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

Local Pickup for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #5 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 2470 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 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #1 2 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #2 3 Local Google Fonts 100K+ · 4.6★ (83) wp.org #3 4 Visitor Traffic Real Time Statistics 30K+ · 4.1★ (233) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too low 5 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #10 ↓2 5 too low 6 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #12 6 too low 7 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #18 ↑2 11 too low 8 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #9 ↓5 1 too low 9 WP Time Slots Booking Form 1K+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #8 ↑2 1 too high 10 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #20 ↓2 10 too low 11 Advanced Local Pickup for WooCommerce – Click & Collect, In-Store Pickup 3K+ · 4.7★ (55) wp.org #7 ↑2 4 too high 12 Local Fonts Uploader – Upload & Host Any Font Locally for GDPR 4K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #4 ↑1 8 too high 13 Delivery & Pickup Date Time for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (282) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (742) wp.org #22 ↑1 8 too low 15 CAOS | Host Google Analytics Locally 10K+ · 4.9★ (128) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too high 16 Better Find and Replace – AI-Powered Suggestions 40K+ · 4.6★ (171) wp.org #23 ↓1 7 too low 17 Local Delivery Drivers for WooCommerce 800+ · 4.3★ (18) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 Delivery Date Time & Pickup for WooCommerce 400+ · 4.2★ (113) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 PI Delivery & Pickup Date Time for WooCommerce 400+ · 4.8★ (90) wp.org #19 ↑2 20 Local Business Schema Lite 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #16 ↑1 4 too high 21 L Local Development 90+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too high 22 Local Pickup for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 ↑1 17 too high 23 Local Twemoji 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓2 2 too high 24 Local Business Schema Generator 100+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.