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

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 “mu”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

WebSub (FKA. PubSubHubbub) shows at wp.org #5 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 100K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Image Widget places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 287 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1568) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1668) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 WP Reset 300K+ · 4.8★ (1014) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Mu Manager – Manage mu-plugins like standard plugins 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 WPS Limit Login 100K+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Disable All WordPress Updates 20K+ · 4.8★ (69) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too low 7 W WP Customer Reviews 20K+ · 4.3★ (528) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too low 8 Advanced WordPress Reset – Debug, Recover & Reset WP 10K+ · 4.9★ (1233) wp.org #17 ↑1 9 too low 9 Admin CSS MU 10K+ · 4.5★ (26) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too high 10 FluentSnippets – High-Performance Code Snippets, Header & Footer Code, Custom CSS & PHP Code Manager 50K+ · 4.7★ (78) wp.org #14 ↑3 4 too low 11 Image Widget 100K+ · 4.9★ (287) wp.org #21 ↓2 10 too low 12 WP REST Cache 10K+ · 4.9★ (42) wp.org #9 ↑2 3 too high 13 Native PHP Sessions 10K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 WebSub (FKA. PubSubHubbub) 100K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #5 9 too high 15 L Logged-in-only 700+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #10 ↓1 5 too high 16 VigIA – AI Visibility, Analytics & Control 2K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #19 ↑3 3 too low 17 FluentAuth – Login Security, Two-Factor Authentication, Passkeys & Social Login 10K+ · 4.1★ (35) wp.org #20 3 too low 18 Calendar 4K+ · 3.7★ (24) wp.org #16 2 too high 19 Hide Cart Functions 3K+ · 4.6★ (14) wp.org #22 ↓1 3 too low 20 BotBlocker Security – Complete security platform 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #18 ↓4 2 too high 21 WP Anything Downloader 3K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 8 too high 22 PAY by square pre WooCommerce 500+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 atec Profiler 90+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 24 Admin Code Search 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.