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

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 “marketpress”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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

Marketpress Frontend shows at wp.org #13 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN places #3 on merit, 4.7★ from 1488 reviews, but shows at wp.org #7. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Price Based on Country for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.8★ (262) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #1 2

WP Image Zoom 10K+ · 4.3★ (119) wp.org #2 3

Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN 70K+ · 4.7★ (1488) wp.org #7 4 too low 4

Post Affiliate Pro 400+ · 4.6★ (23) thin reviews wp.org #3 1 too high 5

Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #5 6

GoUrl Bitcoin Payment Gateway & Paid Downloads & Membership 600+ · 4.0★ (76) closure risk stale but ranked wp.org #4 2 too high 7

Alphabetic Pagination 400+ · 4.7★ (81) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too low 8

Captcha.eu 300+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #6 2 too high 9

PAYMILL for WordPress 30+ · 4.5★ (16) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #11 2 too low 10

Coupon & Discount Code Reveal Button 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too high 11

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.