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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “name day”

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 “name day”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 3 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

iCalendrier shows at wp.org #5 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 700+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Backup Migration places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 1338 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 On This Day (by Room 34) 200+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #4 5 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #11 6 too low 6 Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) wp.org #7 ↓2 1 too low 7 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #8 ↓1 9 Click to Chat – HoliThemes 600K+ · 4.8★ (131) wp.org #9 10 Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1338) wp.org #18 ↑1 8 too low 11 Assistant – Every Day Productivity Apps 4K+ · 4.9★ (15) wp.org #6 ↑2 5 too high 12 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #19 ↑2 7 too low 13 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #14 ↑10 1 too low 14 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #20 ↓2 6 too low 15 WP Date and Time Shortcode 10K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #12 3 too high 16 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #15 ↑2 1 too high 17 W WP Photo Album Plus 10K+ · 4.7★ (199) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116) wp.org #17 ↓2 1 too high 19 iCalendrier 700+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #5 ↑1 14 too high 20 Product Feed Manager for WooCommerce – CTX Feed – Support 220+ Shopping, AI & Social Channels 90K+ · 4.6★ (838) wp.org #21 ↓8 1 too low 21 Safe SVG 1M+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #23 ↓1 2 too low 22 EventPrime – Events Calendar, Bookings, Tickets & AI 7K+ · 4.4★ (85) wp.org #24 ↓8 2 too low 23 Verse of the Day Widget for WP 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 7 too high 24 LAPDI On This Day 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↑1 2 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.