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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “machine learning”

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 “machine learning”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 3 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

Kliken: Ads + Pixel for Meta shows at wp.org #5 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 19 places. Its 30K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO places #11 on merit, 4.6★ from 683 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 Smart COD for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.6★ (52) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Titan Anti-spam & Security – Brute Force Protection, 2FA & Spam Filter 50K+ · 4.5★ (370) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too low 5 DOOFINDER Search and Discovery for WP & WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.9★ (127) wp.org #10 ↑1 5 too low 6 ShortPixel Image Optimizer – Optimize Images, Convert WebP & AVIF 300K+ · 4.5★ (830) wp.org #15 ↑1 9 too low 7 oopspam Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for WordPress Forms & Comments (No CAPTCHA) 6K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Optimole – Optimize Images | Convert WebP & AVIF | CDN & Lazy Load | Image Optimization 200K+ · 4.7★ (640) wp.org #16 ↑1 8 too low 9 Anti-Spam Protection – No API Key, GDPR Friendly 1K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 Ezoic 10K+ · 3.3★ (53) wp.org #7 ↑1 3 too high 11 GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO 30K+ · 4.6★ (683) wp.org #23 ↓5 12 too low 12 Easy Google AdSense 5K+ · 4.3★ (7) wp.org #4 8 too high 13 LinkBoss – Semantic AI Internal Linking 2K+ · 4.8★ (17) wp.org #13 14 Accesibilidad Web con el Widget de AccedeMe 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 Contextly Recommends 100+ · 3.8★ (23) wp.org #17 ↓2 2 too low 16 AntiSpam for Contact Form 7 10K+ · 4.2★ (13) wp.org #20 ↑2 4 too low 17 ChatBot.com Conversational AI Support 1K+ · 3.7★ (10) wp.org #21 ↑3 4 too low 18 AI Powered Marketing 50K+ · 2.7★ (29) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Searchips Search By Image for WooCommerce 10+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #22 ↑1 3 too low 20 Image Background Remover 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 ↑2 2 too high 21 ShinyStat Analytics 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↓1 10 too high 22 Phrase TMS Integration for WordPress 200+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Svea Checkout for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 9 too high 24 Kliken: Ads + Pixel for Meta 30K+ · 3.0★ (1) wp.org #5 19 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.