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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “no cc”

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 “no cc”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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 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

CC Mortgage Calculator shows at wp.org #7 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 80+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 292 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 CC Child Pages 9K+ · 4.9★ (49) wp.org #1 2 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1872) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 WP Mail Logging 300K+ · 4.7★ (375) wp.org #8 4 too low 5 Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #12 7 too low 6 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (742) wp.org #15 ↑2 9 too low 7 Email Log 80K+ · 4.2★ (43) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 SMTP Mailer 70K+ · 4.6★ (67) wp.org #14 ↑1 6 too low 9 Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging 90K+ · 4.8★ (292) wp.org #21 12 too low 10 Ocean Social Sharing 60K+ · 4.5★ (11) wp.org #10 ↑1 11 Kali Forms — Contact Form & Drag-and-Drop Builder 10K+ · 4.8★ (89) wp.org #23 12 too low 12 CC BMI Calculator 700+ · 3.3★ (4) wp.org #3 ↓1 9 too high 13 WC Multiple Email Recipients 4K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #22 9 too low 14 CryptX 10K+ · 4.5★ (20) wp.org #18 ↑1 4 too low 15 Blogmentor – Blog Layouts for Elementor 4K+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too low 16 ThemeZee Widget Bundle 5K+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #16 ↓2 17 CC Canadian Mortgage Calculator 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 12 too high 18 Snow Monkey Blocks 30K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 CC-Syntax-Highlight 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 13 too high 20 Ocean Product Sharing 20K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓1 9 too high 21 CC Mortgage Calculator 80+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #7 14 too high 22 CC Visual PDF Builder 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 9 too high 23 Add Code To Head 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 ↓1 1 too low 24 Easy search and use CC-licensed images 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓1 7 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.