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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “mod rewrite”

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 “mod rewrite”, 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 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

AgentMod shows at wp.org #5 but places #11 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Async JavaScript places #5 on merit, 4.7★ from 102 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too low 2 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (195) wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too low 3 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 F FameTheme Demo Importer 30K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Async JavaScript 60K+ · 4.7★ (102) wp.org #24 ↓2 19 too low 6 B BuddyPress Docs 6K+ · 4.4★ (35) wp.org #18 ↓3 12 too low 7 T Trackserver 400+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #23 ↓2 16 too low 8 rtMedia for WordPress, BuddyPress and bbPress 7K+ · 3.7★ (152) wp.org #21 ↓1 13 too low 9 iFolders – Ultimate Folder Organizer for Media Library, Pages, Posts and Users 300+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #17 ↓1 8 too low 10 OliveroDev Media Audit – Media Library Cleaner & Optimizer 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 ↑2 2 too high 11 AgentMod 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 too high 12 Oli Media Cleaner 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 6 too high 13 Tanupom In-Place Converter for WebP 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 ↑1 6 too high 14 GrabWP Tenancy 20+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 ↓4 8 too low 15 SEV WebP Migrator for W3TC 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 6 too high 16 Digigyan SEO Toolkit 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 6 too high 17 Freshet Unused Media 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 Media Mage — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 6 too high 19 ZEJ Mediatidy – Media Library Cleanup: Unused Images, Duplicates, WebP & Compression — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 6 too high 20 WingMind AI 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓2 6 too high 21 LumenCache 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 6 too high 22 in1me CDN & Backups with pCloud — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓2 6 too high 23 Eizport — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Tricot 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓2 5 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.