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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “medium to wordpress”

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 “medium to wordpress”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 5 plugins are pushed down for signals wp.org ignores: errors, a host-installed base, or removal risk.

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 it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Display Post Feed from Medium shows at wp.org #7 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 4358 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) wp.org #1 2 FancyBox for WordPress 30K+ · 4.6★ (92) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 WP Popular Posts 100K+ · 4.5★ (249) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Simple Shopping Cart 10K+ · 4.6★ (215) wp.org #5 ↑2 1 too low 5 P Page Links To 100K+ · 4.9★ (157) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Analytify – Google Analytics 4 Tracking and Reporting in WordPress 20K+ · 4.7★ (488) wp.org #10 ↑1 4 too low 7 Two Factor 100K+ · 4.7★ (209) wp.org #14 ↑7 7 too low 8 Blog2Social: Social Media Auto Post & Scheduler 40K+ · 4.5★ (2107) wp.org #16 8 too low 9 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #22 ↓4 13 too low 10 Cloudways WordPress Migrator 10K+ · 4.2★ (36) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too high 11 Analytics Insights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (34) wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too high 12 Robo Gallery – Photo & Image Slider 40K+ · 4.3★ (406) wp.org #24 12 too low 13 MWW Scheduled Post Trigger 60K+ · 4.4★ (27) wp.org #12 ↑2 1 too high 14 Team Members – A WordPress Team Plugin with Gallery, Grid, Carousel, Slider, Table, List, and More 2K+ · 4.7★ (91) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 Disable Media Sizes 10K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #18 ↑2 3 too low 16 ExactMetrics – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Plugin) 200K+ · 2.5★ (1546) wp.org #11 ↑2 5 too high 17 AppMySite – WordPress & WooCommerce Mobile App Builder (No-Code Android & iOS App Maker) 7K+ · 4.3★ (138) wp.org #17 ↑2 18 Super Testimonial – Testimonial & Customer Review Slider Plugin for WordPress 2K+ · 4.7★ (26) wp.org #15 ↑2 3 too high 19 Source Medium Tracker for Contact Form 7 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 ↑1 15 too high 20 rtMedia for WordPress, BuddyPress and bbPress 7K+ · 3.7★ (152) wp.org #19 ↑3 1 too high 21 Bulk Images to Posts 1K+ · 4.8★ (18) wp.org #20 ↑3 1 too high 22 Australia Post WooCommerce Extension 3K+ · 4.4★ (19) wp.org #21 ↑3 1 too high 23 Bolt CTA Button – Floating Call Button for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #13 ↑2 10 too high 24 Display Post Feed from Medium 100+ · 2.3★ (3) wp.org #7 ↑1 17 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.