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

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 “me”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 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

Always Remember Me shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 400+ 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

Temporary Login Without Password places #7 on merit, 5.0★ from 1550 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 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Include Me 4K+ · 4.8★ (21) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 C Clear Cache for Me 40K+ · 4.8★ (29) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Joinchat – Enhanced “click to chat” 700K+ · 4.7★ (189) wp.org #4 5 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (808) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1917) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Temporary Login Without Password 90K+ · 5.0★ (1550) wp.org #21 14 too low 8 Stop Spammers Classic 20K+ · 4.4★ (243) wp.org #17 9 too low 9 Export All URLs 50K+ · 4.6★ (94) wp.org #15 6 too low 10 Manage Notification E-mails 100K+ · 4.8★ (56) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 Show Current Template 100K+ · 5.0★ (71) wp.org #19 8 too low 12 Connect Matomo – Analytics Dashboard for WordPress 60K+ · 4.5★ (95) wp.org #18 6 too low 13 Love Me 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #5 8 too high 14 Buy Me a Coffee – Button and Widget Plugin 6K+ · 3.8★ (18) wp.org #6 8 too high 15 WebP Express 300K+ · 4.4★ (162) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 W WP Meta and Date Remover 80K+ · 4.2★ (71) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 Login Me Now – Passwordless, Magic Link, OTP & Social Login for WordPress 500+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 Match Me for BuddyPress & BuddyBoss 200+ · 4.6★ (12) wp.org #13 5 too high 19 Show Me The Cookies 400+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #7 12 too high 20 C Childify Me 8K+ · 4.6★ (32) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Beam me up Scotty – Back to Top Button 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #12 9 too high 22 Always Remember Me 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 14 too high 23 Vanquish Attach Me – Order & Product Attachments for WooCommerce 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 Buy Me a Coffee – Membership, Paywall & Fundraiser with Stripe & PayPal 90+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #14 10 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.