Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “mechanical”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 0 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Calculator Builder – Create an Online Calculator 1K+ · 4.7★ (18) wp.org #1 2 3D Viewer – Turn Product Pages into Interactive 3D Experiences 9K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #2 3 WP Before After Image Slider – Interactive Image and Video Comparison Plugin for WordPress 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 4 MWR Hit Counter 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 5 Geolys — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 Wonderful SMTP Mailer and Log 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Flexi Booking System — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 Mattytap Sermons 60+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #23 15 too low 9 QWeb Merchant Feed — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 Semantic Journey 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 Speechable 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 ITPS WCAG Accessibility — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 1 too high 13 O OrderGuard for Print on Demand — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 Exayard — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 1 too high 15 Yodsira Accessibility Markup Audit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too high 16 Models3D Studio – 3D Product Viewer & Configurator for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓1 1 too high 17 Namdar Content Decay Checker — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 Decision Widget — Product Quiz Recommendations — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 Opus Price Builder — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 InvFlux – Inventory Management, Purchasing & Fulfillment for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 Onsite Link Verdict — Broken Link Checker — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 AuditWand Accessibility — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 Postlint Content Audit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Section Collection – Add Ready-made Sections to Design Modern Websites 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 2 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.