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

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 “multibyte”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 17 of the top 20. 2 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

Multibyte CAPTCHA login and Mail only register shows at wp.org #4 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 30+ 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

Customer Reviews for WooCommerce places #6 on merit, 4.8★ from 1532 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 Admin Slug Column 5K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 W WP Multibyte Patch 1M+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Autoptimize 800K+ · 4.7★ (1428) wp.org #11 ↑2 8 too low 4 A Advanced Excerpt 80K+ · 4.3★ (101) wp.org #9 5 too low 5 Better Search Replace 1M+ · 4.3★ (545) wp.org #12 ↓1 7 too low 6 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1532) wp.org #24 18 too low 7 Meta Box – A Framework for Dynamic Websites 500K+ · 4.8★ (165) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 SEO WRITING – AI Writer for SEO & AI Search 30K+ · 4.9★ (120) wp.org #16 ↑2 8 too low 9 Image Quality Control | Still BE 400+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #3 6 too high 10 List category posts 80K+ · 4.7★ (254) wp.org #19 9 too low 11 R Really Simple CSV Importer 40K+ · 4.9★ (107) wp.org #20 ↑1 9 too low 12 Footnotes & Content 100+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #5 7 too high 13 Regenerate Thumbnails 1M+ · 4.6★ (396) wp.org #21 ↓1 8 too low 14 MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites 700K+ · 5.0★ (70) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 Make Tables Responsive 6K+ · 5.0★ (34) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 WebEquipe PDF Search 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 10 too high 17 Custom Field Template 30K+ · 4.0★ (24) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 Multibyte CAPTCHA login and Mail only register 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #4 14 too high 19 ReadBar – Smart Reading Time & Dynamic Progress Bar — · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 12 too high 20 MainWP Child Reports 100K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too high 21 K Katze Site Preflight — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 13 too high 22 AutoAltify 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 12 too high 23 Arik Sahaj Checkout — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↓1 10 too high 24 MentionReady — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓1 6 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.