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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “needless links”

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 “needless links”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Jobit Vacancies for Multiposter shows at wp.org #11 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its — installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Simply Schedule Appointments 50K+ · 5.0★ (155) wp.org #1 2 HubSpot All-In-One Marketing – Forms, Popups, Live Chat 200K+ · 4.3★ (207) wp.org #2 3 Responsive Lightbox & Gallery 100K+ · 4.9★ (2003) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Professional Social Sharing Buttons, Icons & Related Posts – Shareaholic 10K+ · 4.4★ (1053) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 404 Solution 10K+ · 4.9★ (44) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 D Disable Author Archives 10K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 Code Embed 10K+ · 4.4★ (45) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 Nginx Helper 200K+ · 4.4★ (31) wp.org #9 10 HIPAA Forms 700+ · 4.3★ (9) wp.org #13 ↑2 3 too low 11 VK Filter Search 6K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #12 1 too low 12 PDF Forms Filler for WPForms 600+ · 2.6★ (5) wp.org #7 5 too high 13 Optimazz – Website Optimization and Speedup 30+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #23 10 too low 14 Users Bulk Delete With Preview 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 2 too low 15 S StaticPress2019 200+ · 3.3★ (3) wp.org #15 ↓1 16 OW Agenda — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too high 17 Jobit Vacancies for Multiposter — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 I ISTK Add-On 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 AI-O Optimiser 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 20 Wohno – Immobilien-Inserate — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 21 World Domination 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 3 too high 22 Form Finder for Ninja Forms — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↑1 1 too high 23 Loupe Search — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Snelgraveren Product Designer for WooCommerce — · 1.0★ (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.