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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “maintenance countdown”

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 “maintenance countdown”, we agree with wp.org 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

WP Maintenance Mode & Site Under Construction shows at wp.org #9 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.5★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 612 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 LightStart – Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder 400K+ · 4.3★ (874) wp.org #1 2 CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin by NiteoThemes 200K+ · 4.7★ (326) wp.org #2 3 WP Maintenance 60K+ · 4.7★ (98) wp.org #3 4 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #8 4 too low 5 Countdown, Coming Soon, Maintenance – Countdown & Clock 10K+ · 4.7★ (183) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode Page & Under Construction 10K+ · 4.8★ (317) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #16 9 too low 8 Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1872) wp.org #15 7 too low 9 Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode by Colorlib 5K+ · 4.7★ (42) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 Coming soon and Maintenance mode 8K+ · 4.2★ (83) wp.org #11 1 too low 11 Uji Countdown 4K+ · 3.2★ (54) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 Popup Builder & Popup Maker for WordPress – OptinMonster Email Marketing and Lead Generation 1M+ · 4.3★ (821) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 Coming Soon Maintenance Mode 6K+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #5 8 too high 14 Ultimate Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode & Under Construction – Gutenberg Block Builder & Landing Page 9K+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 Counter Box – Add Countdowns, Timers & Dynamic Counters to WordPress 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #17 2 too low 16 IfElse Pages – Coming Soon and Maintenance Mode 200+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 Landing Page Cat – Coming Soon & Maintenance Pages 600+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 Website Maintenance – PTI 10+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 WP Maintenance Mode & Site Under Construction 3K+ · 3.5★ (4) wp.org #9 10 too high 20 S Smart Maintenance Mode 1K+ · 3.2★ (15) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 Amitry Maintenance Mode & Coming Soon 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 7 too high 22 Awesome Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Limbus Maintenance Page & Shop Pause 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Simple Custom Coming Soon/Maintenance Mode 50+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.