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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “most viewed”

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 “most viewed”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 4 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

Customer who viewed this item also viewed using Woocommerce shows at wp.org #4 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 50+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Otter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder for Gutenberg Editor & FSE places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 251 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Post Views Counter 100K+ · 4.9★ (1236) wp.org #3 ↑13 2 too low 2 WebberZone Top 10 — Popular Posts 10K+ · 4.6★ (102) wp.org #2 3 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 AnWP Post Grid and Post Carousel Slider for Elementor 20K+ · 4.9★ (84) wp.org #9 5 too low 5 Recently Viewed Products for WooCommerce – Carousel, Widget, Block & Email 1K+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #1 4 too high 6 ShareThis Dashboard for Google Analytics 80K+ · 3.6★ (138) wp.org #6 ↓2 7 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #7 ↓2 8 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #17 ↑4 9 too low 9 WP-PostViews 90K+ · 4.4★ (65) wp.org #13 4 too low 10 Popup Builder & Popup Maker for WordPress – OptinMonster Email Marketing and Lead Generation 1M+ · 4.3★ (821) wp.org #12 ↓6 2 too low 11 Statify 100K+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #19 ↓12 8 too low 12 Otter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder for Gutenberg Editor & FSE 300K+ · 4.7★ (251) wp.org #23 ↓6 11 too low 13 Mailchimp for WooCommerce 200K+ · 4.0★ (726) wp.org #18 ↓6 5 too low 14 Toplytics 80+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #10 ↓1 4 too high 15 Customer who viewed this item also viewed using Woocommerce 50+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #4 ↓1 11 too high 16 ATUM WooCommerce Inventory Management and Stock Tracking 10K+ · 4.7★ (128) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 Helpie FAQ — Accordion, Docs & Knowledge Base 8K+ · 4.5★ (80) wp.org #24 ↓1 7 too low 18 Related Products – Create Upsells, Cross-sells, and Product Recommendations for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.6★ (82) wp.org #21 ↓3 3 too low 19 Hide Price Until Login 1K+ · 3.5★ (24) wp.org #8 11 too high 20 Remoji – Post/Comment Reaction and Enhancement 300+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #11 9 too high 21 Remote Website Management by Watchful 3K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #16 ↓2 5 too high 22 Meta for WooCommerce 400K+ · 2.1★ (481) wp.org #15 ↓7 7 too high 23 WPC AJAX Add to Cart for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.4★ (18) wp.org #22 ↓3 1 too high 24 Light Views Counter – Fast, Scalable View Counter for High-Traffic Sites 3K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↓4 10 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.