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

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 “mirror”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 17 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

IdentityMirror | Sync Customizer Logo to Login shows at wp.org #6 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 50+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Lightbox & Modal Popup WordPress Plugin – FooBox places #6 on merit, 3.9★ from 95 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Activity Log 300K+ · 4.7★ (490) wp.org #3 ↓1 2 too low 2 Theme Editor 50K+ · 4.6★ (128) wp.org #5 3 too low 3 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #7 4 too low 4 Mirror App – Social Gallery Feed 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Campos Checkout Brasileiro para WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Lightbox & Modal Popup WordPress Plugin – FooBox 100K+ · 3.9★ (95) wp.org #13 7 too low 7 Advanced Media Offloader – Offload Media to Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2, DigitalOcean Spaces & More 7K+ · 4.7★ (48) wp.org #14 ↓3 7 too low 8 Multiple Domain Mapping on Single Site 6K+ · 4.6★ (48) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 Corner Ad 300+ · 4.7★ (32) wp.org #16 ↓2 7 too low 10 Markdown Mirror – llms.txt and .md always up to date 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #4 6 too high 11 FluentAuth – Login Security, Two-Factor Authentication, Passkeys & Social Login 10K+ · 4.1★ (35) wp.org #19 ↓1 8 too low 12 Mirror Gravatar 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #2 ↑1 10 too high 13 ZoloBlocks – Advanced Gutenberg Blocks, Website Builder & Page Design Toolkit 1K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #18 ↓2 5 too low 14 Pure Metafields 10K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 Export WordPress Pages to Static HTML & PDF — Static Site Export 4K+ · 3.8★ (51) wp.org #21 ↓1 6 too low 16 YITH WooCommerce Badge Management 10K+ · 2.9★ (93) wp.org #20 ↓3 4 too low 17 Easy 3D Viewer 1K+ · 4.1★ (12) wp.org #23 ↓2 6 too low 18 IdentityMirror | Sync Customizer Logo to Login 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 12 too high 19 Mirror App – Professional Feed 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 10 too high 20 JumpsuitAI – llms.txt + Markdown Endpoints 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↓2 3 too high 21 Easy Demo Importer – A Modern One-Click Demo Import Solution 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Auglio Try-on Mirror 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓1 11 too high 23 Kanbanz 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 8 too high 24 GlobeSign Content Markdown Mirror 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓3 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.