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← Rankings

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

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 “locale”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 2 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

WPSSO User Locale Selector shows at wp.org #3 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 60+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Presto Player places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 346 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #1 2 Loco Translate 1M+ · 4.8★ (453) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Bogo 10K+ · 4.5★ (48) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Social Preview and Open Graph Tags 50K+ · 4.6★ (122) wp.org #9 ↑1 4 too low 6 Admin Menu Editor 300K+ · 4.6★ (312) wp.org #12 ↑1 6 too low 7 Language Fallback 5K+ · 4.8★ (23) wp.org #7 8 Plugin Load Filter 7K+ · 4.8★ (52) wp.org #11 ↓2 3 too low 9 Simple Login Log 5K+ · 4.5★ (27) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 JSM User Locale Selector 30+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #4 6 too high 11 Preferred Languages 3K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too high 12 Presto Player 100K+ · 4.8★ (346) wp.org #21 ↓5 9 too low 13 Event Tickets and Registration 90K+ · 3.5★ (236) wp.org #13 ↓1 14 WPSSO User Locale Selector 60+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #3 ↓1 11 too high 15 Cyr to Lat Enhanced 80K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #18 ↑3 3 too low 16 When Last Login 40K+ · 4.7★ (37) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 Core Rollback 20K+ · 4.7★ (16) wp.org #17 ↓3 18 Hreflang Manager – Hreflang Implementation for International SEO 8K+ · 4.7★ (9) wp.org #20 ↑2 2 too low 19 Flash Toolkit 10K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #16 ↑3 3 too high 20 Direct Payments for WooCommerce – Bank Transfer, Mobile Money, Crypto and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Payments 800+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Customization for WP SEO 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 ↑3 6 too high 22 WPGraphQL Yoast SEO Addon 10K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 ↑1 3 too high 23 Werk aan de Muur 900+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 Locale Auto Switch 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↑1 10 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.