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

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 “long”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Drip – Marketing Automation for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #13 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 1K+ 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

Cookie Compliance for WordPress – Cookie Consent, GDPR & CCPA places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 3026 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #1 2 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Classic Editor 8M+ · 4.9★ (1251) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Rich Showcase for Google Reviews 100K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #7 ↑3 2 too low 6 WP Accessibility 60K+ · 4.8★ (68) wp.org #4 ↑3 2 too high 7 Cookie Compliance for WordPress – Cookie Consent, GDPR & CCPA 800K+ · 4.8★ (3026) wp.org #12 ↑1 5 too low 8 BBQ Firewall – Fast & Powerful Firewall Security 100K+ · 4.9★ (160) wp.org #10 ↓2 2 too low 9 Comments – wpDiscuz 60K+ · 4.7★ (581) wp.org #8 ↓4 1 too high 10 C Classic Widgets 2M+ · 4.9★ (272) wp.org #9 ↓4 1 too high 11 Longer Permalinks 8K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #5 ↓2 6 too high 12 wp-Typography 10K+ · 4.6★ (71) wp.org #11 1 too high 13 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #17 ↑4 4 too low 14 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #20 ↓8 6 too low 15 WPFront Scroll Top 200K+ · 4.9★ (142) wp.org #21 ↓5 6 too low 16 Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) wp.org #18 ↓9 2 too low 17 Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 Index WP MySQL For Speed 50K+ · 4.8★ (99) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Smooth Back To Top Button 40K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 Chatra Live Chat + ChatBot + Cart Saver 2K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #15 ↓1 5 too high 21 Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87) wp.org #24 ↓5 3 too low 22 Drip – Marketing Automation for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #13 ↓2 9 too high 23 Responsive Tabs — Horizontal, Vertical & Accordion Tabs for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #22 ↓5 1 too high 24 Testimonial Carousel For Elementor 10K+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #16 ↓1 8 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.