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

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 “mark”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

SEO’n’AI – AI Image check&mark shows at wp.org #3 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) – Quiz Maker & Survey Maker places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 1282 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #1 2 Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1526) wp.org #6 ↑6 4 too low 3 Highlight Search Terms 6K+ · 5.0★ (40) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #10 6 too low 5 Mark Posts 1K+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 Advanced Product Labels for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (252) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too high 7 Uncanny Toolkit for LearnDash 20K+ · 4.8★ (105) wp.org #7 ↑4 8 Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125) wp.org #12 ↑8 4 too low 9 WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam 400K+ · 5.0★ (1471) wp.org #15 ↓2 6 too low 10 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #13 ↓5 3 too low 11 wp-Typography 10K+ · 4.6★ (71) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) – Quiz Maker & Survey Maker 40K+ · 4.7★ (1282) wp.org #20 8 too low 13 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #23 ↑1 10 too low 14 Markup by Attribute for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.5★ (28) wp.org #8 ↑1 6 too high 15 WS Form LITE – Drag & Drop Contact Form Builder 10K+ · 5.0★ (322) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 Conditional Fields for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.8★ (166) wp.org #11 ↓4 5 too high 17 Database for Contact Form 7, WPforms, Elementor forms 60K+ · 4.8★ (124) wp.org #24 ↓3 7 too low 18 Schema – All In One Schema Rich Snippets 30K+ · 4.0★ (162) wp.org #21 ↓2 3 too low 19 Remove Uppercase Accents 8K+ · 5.0★ (28) wp.org #16 3 too high 20 WC Vendors – WooCommerce Multivendor, WooCommerce Marketplace, Product Vendors 3K+ · 4.5★ (188) wp.org #17 ↑1 3 too high 21 SEO’n’AI – AI Image check&mark 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 ↑1 18 too high 22 Gravity Forms Email Blacklist 10K+ · 4.3★ (15) wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too high 23 Affiliate Link Marker 400+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #14 9 too high 24 AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓4 5 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.