Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “made to order”

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 “made to order”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 7 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

Custom Order Status for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #11 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.3★ average from 32 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

SureCart – Ecommerce Made Easy For Selling Physical Products, Digital Downloads, Subscriptions, Donations, & Payments places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 288 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 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (587) wp.org #1 2 Events Made Easy 1K+ · 4.6★ (111) wp.org #2 3 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Advanced Order Export For WooCommerce 100K+ · 5.0★ (350) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3156) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 OneClick Chat to Order 30K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Order Tracking – WordPress Status Tracking Plugin 3K+ · 4.6★ (73) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #18 9 too low 10 Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 SureCart – Ecommerce Made Easy For Selling Physical Products, Digital Downloads, Subscriptions, Donations, & Payments 80K+ · 4.8★ (288) wp.org #22 11 too low 12 Custom Order Numbers for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.2★ (25) wp.org #6 6 too high 13 Order Tip for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.3★ (16) wp.org #8 5 too high 14 WP Migrate Lite – Migration Made Easy 200K+ · 4.2★ (318) wp.org #14 15 WC Cancel Order 5K+ · 4.9★ (23) wp.org #9 6 too high 16 Solid Mail – SMTP email and logging made by SolidWP 60K+ · 4.2★ (52) wp.org #21 5 too low 17 Order Minimum/Maximum Amount Limits for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.5★ (40) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 Order Delivery Date for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.3★ (61) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 Custom Order Status for WooCommerce 10K+ · 3.3★ (32) wp.org #11 8 too high 20 Bulk Order Form for WooCommerce 800+ · 4.6★ (19) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 EU Order Withdrawal Button for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.6★ (7) wp.org #13 8 too high 22 Maintenance Mode Made Easy 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 WP All Export – Order Export for WooCommerce 3K+ · 3.9★ (8) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 BD Courier Order Ratio Checker 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 1 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.