Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “mascot”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 17 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

RS Diwali Lantern shows at wp.org #9 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 1.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Seraphinite Accelerator places #5 on merit, 4.8★ from 476 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 TinyPNG Image Optimization – Image Compression JPEG & PNG | Convert to WebP & AVIF 100K+ · 4.5★ (181) wp.org #1 2 GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO 30K+ · 4.6★ (683) wp.org #2 3 Maintenance 1M+ · 4.4★ (869) wp.org #7 4 too low 4 Hustle – Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Optins, Popups 80K+ · 4.4★ (859) wp.org #18 ↓3 14 too low 5 Seraphinite Accelerator 50K+ · 4.8★ (476) wp.org #21 ↓3 16 too low 6 WapuuGotchi 20+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Privacy Policy Generator, Terms & Conditions, GDPR, CCPA, Cookie Policy & Disclaimer Templates – WPLP Legal Pages 10K+ · 4.7★ (93) wp.org #22 ↓2 15 too low 8 WPLP Cookie Consent – Cookie Banner & Consent Management for GDPR, CCPA & Google Consent Mode 9K+ · 4.6★ (52) wp.org #23 ↓4 15 too low 9 Branda – White Label & Branding, Free Login Page Customizer 10K+ · 4.5★ (30) wp.org #20 ↓3 11 too low 10 PixelcraftDev Confirm Payment for Woocommerce 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 7 too high 11 Couac – Visual Feedback & Client Reviews 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 SMNTCS Wapuu Widget — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 7 too high 13 Pubble Messenger Live Chat 30+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #24 ↓3 11 too low 14 Pilot Announcement Bar – Announcement Bar & Notification Bar for WordPress — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 4 too high 15 WebWerk Stickers & Overlays — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 7 too high 16 PetMySite – Interactive Chat Button & Website Pet — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too high 17 Commited – Shopping CO2 neutralization add-on for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too high 18 Cloudy AI Chatbot — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 5 too high 19 Hafen Core: Schema, llms.txt and Answer Blocks — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓2 5 too high 20 Crea Utile PDF and Page Search — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 MobileRank – Mobile Performance Diagnostics — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓2 5 too high 22 Tendr – AI Chatbot, Shopping Assistant & Lead Capture — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓4 5 too high 23 Tanuki Social Content Bridge — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓3 4 too high 24 RS Diwali Lantern 10+ · 1.0★ (2) wp.org #9 15 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.