Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “markets”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Stock Market Overview shows at wp.org #6 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 1K+ 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

Translate WordPress with Weglot 2.0 – Multilingual AI Translation places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 1940 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #1 2 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #2 3 YML for Yandex Market 10K+ · 4.8★ (72) wp.org #3 4 Germanized for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (496) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Advanced Google reCAPTCHA 200K+ · 4.8★ (430) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1338) wp.org #10 ↓1 4 too low 7 Price Based on Country for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.8★ (262) wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too low 8 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (584) wp.org #4 ↑4 4 too high 9 Translate WordPress with Weglot 2.0 – Multilingual AI Translation 50K+ · 4.8★ (1940) wp.org #15 ↓1 6 too low 10 Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) – Quiz Maker & Survey Maker 40K+ · 4.7★ (1282) wp.org #14 ↑1 4 too low 11 GeoDirectory – WP Business Directory Plugin and Classified Listings Directory 10K+ · 4.8★ (716) wp.org #17 ↑1 6 too low 12 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #18 ↑2 6 too low 13 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #23 10 too low 14 LoginPress | wp-login Custom Login Page Customizer 200K+ · 4.8★ (1077) wp.org #21 ↓2 7 too low 15 Mercado Pago payments for WooCommerce 100K+ · 3.9★ (693) wp.org #16 ↑1 1 too low 16 Campos Checkout Brasileiro para WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #11 5 too high 17 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #20 ↑3 3 too low 18 Cryptocurrency Widgets – Price Ticker & Coins List 6K+ · 4.8★ (191) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 Stock Market Ticker 2K+ · 3.7★ (15) wp.org #8 ↓2 11 too high 20 Stock Market Overview 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 ↓1 14 too high 21 Stock market charts from finviz 400+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #12 9 too high 22 Welcart e-Commerce 10K+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #19 ↓3 3 too high 23 Stock Market News 400+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #13 10 too high 24 seQura 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24

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.