Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “mouseover”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

Bookings Calendar for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #6 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

FireBox – WooCommerce Popup Builder, Exit Intent Popup, Email Optin & Cart Abandonment places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 76 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Custom Product Tabs for WooCommerce & WordPress Tabs Builder – Smart Tabs 10K+ · 4.9★ (134) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Image Hotspot – Map Image Annotation 3K+ · 4.9★ (22) wp.org #1 ↑2 1 too high 3 Image Source Control Lite – Show Image Credits and Captions 3K+ · 4.6★ (42) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 10Web Booster – Website speed optimization, Cache & Page Speed optimizer 60K+ · 4.6★ (405) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Product Gallery Slider, Additional Variation Images, Product Video, Product Image Zoom and Lightbox for WooCommerce – Reno Product Gallery (formerly WooGallery) 20K+ · 4.9★ (162) wp.org #4 ↑2 1 too high 6 Gallery by Visual Portfolio 50K+ · 4.8★ (340) wp.org #10 ↓1 4 too low 7 WP-Appbox 2K+ · 4.5★ (63) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 FireBox – WooCommerce Popup Builder, Exit Intent Popup, Email Optin & Cart Abandonment 6K+ · 4.8★ (76) wp.org #15 ↑1 7 too low 9 FV Flowplayer Video Player 10K+ · 4.4★ (90) wp.org #9 ↑1 10 Quick View for WooCommerce – Reno QuickView 2K+ · 4.8★ (31) wp.org #11 1 too low 11 U Urvanov Syntax Highlighter 3K+ · 4.5★ (19) wp.org #14 ↑1 3 too low 12 Product Variation Swatches for WooCommerce – Smart Swatches 700+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #8 4 too high 13 Bookings Calendar for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #6 7 too high 14 Product Labels, Quick View, Buy Now, Pre-Orders, Frequently Bought Together & More for WooCommerce – Merchant 9K+ · 4.2★ (11) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too high 15 M Magic the Gathering Card Tooltips 100+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too high 16 Image and Video Lightbox, Image PopUp 1K+ · 3.3★ (12) wp.org #16 ↓2 17 Rating by BestWebSoft 300+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 demon image annotation 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 Hero Posts Lite 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 20 FocusEdit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 Includo Accessibility Widget 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Click to Translate – bilingual dictionary plugin for WordPress 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 Liturgical Day of the Week 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Smart Product Gallery for FluentCart — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 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.