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

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 “meal”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Recurio – Ultimate Subscription for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #10 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPCafe – Restaurant Menu, Online Food Ordering & Table Booking System places #8 on merit, 4.6★ from 113 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 WP Recipe Maker 50K+ · 5.0★ (356) wp.org #1 2 WP Delicious – Recipe Plugin for Food Bloggers (formerly Delicious Recipes) 4K+ · 4.9★ (72) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 WP Travel Engine – Tour Booking Plugin – Tour Operator Software 20K+ · 4.9★ (594) wp.org #6 ↑1 3 too low 4 Order Delivery Date for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.3★ (61) wp.org #4 5 Wedding RSVP – Wedding Guest List, Meal Choices & RSVP Tracker 100+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 Five Star Restaurant Menu and Food Ordering 5K+ · 4.6★ (107) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Restaurant Menu and Food Ordering 2K+ · 4.5★ (15) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 WPCafe – Restaurant Menu, Online Food Ordering & Table Booking System 5K+ · 4.6★ (113) wp.org #21 ↓1 13 too low 9 Sugar Calendar – Events Calendar, Event Tickets, and Events Management Platform 10K+ · 4.5★ (24) wp.org #16 ↑1 7 too low 10 Food Menu – Restaurant Menu & Online Ordering for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #22 ↓1 12 too low 11 SUBRE – Product Subscription for WooCommerce – Recurring Payments 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #11 12 Shipday Local Delivery for WooCommerce 700+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #12 13 Tasty Recipes Lite – WordPress Recipe Card Plugin with Built-In Recipe Schema 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 ↑1 4 too high 14 FooSales – Point of Sale (POS) for WooCommerce 600+ · 3.2★ (13) wp.org #19 ↓1 5 too low 15 Product Option Kit – Product Options & Addons for WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 2 too low 16 FoodOrd – Online Food Ordering & Table Reservation System 20+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 FoodBook Lite – Online Food Ordering System 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 ↓1 10 too high 18 S Simple RSVP 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↑1 3 too high 19 Stachethemes Seat Planner Lite 80+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 Repeater Fields for Elementor Forms 700+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 Scrumptious – Recipe Cards 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 8 too high 22 Selective Image Guard | A deterrent for unauthorized downloads and scraping 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too high 23 Meal Planner Plugin 10+ · 2.3★ (3) wp.org #18 ↓3 5 too high 24 Recurio – Ultimate Subscription for WooCommerce 2K+ · 3.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↓1 14 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.