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

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 fee”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Conditional Fees for WooCommerce Lite shows at wp.org #4 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 1322 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 PI Conditional cart fee / Extra charge rule for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.9★ (38) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #8 ↓3 6 too low 3 TT Extra Fee Option for WooCommerce 1K+ · 3.8★ (16) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too high 4 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #10 ↑1 6 too low 5 Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (504) wp.org #12 ↑1 7 too low 6 Custom Fee Woocommerce 400+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #1 ↑1 5 too high 7 Pay for Payment for WooCommerce – Payment Gateway Fees & Discounts 10K+ · 4.7★ (71) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too low 8 Payment Gateway Based Fees and Discounts for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.7★ (58) wp.org #6 ↑3 2 too high 9 Advanced Free Shipping for WooCommerce 40K+ · 4.8★ (122) wp.org #14 5 too low 10 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #22 ↓4 12 too low 11 Side Cart Woocommerce | Woocommerce Cart 70K+ · 4.9★ (453) wp.org #20 ↓3 9 too low 12 Smart COD for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.6★ (52) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too high 13 Weight Based Shipping for WooCommerce 50K+ · 4.6★ (83) wp.org #13 ↑1 14 A Advanced Excerpt 80K+ · 4.3★ (101) wp.org #17 ↑2 3 too low 15 AWP Classifieds 3K+ · 4.6★ (301) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 Payment and Shipping Method Checkout Fee for WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #7 9 too high 17 PiWeb Disable payment method / Partial payment for WooCommerce 4K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #18 ↑2 1 too low 18 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #21 ↓9 3 too low 19 Extra Fees for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.3★ (42) wp.org #16 3 too high 20 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Conditional Fees for WooCommerce Lite 400+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #4 17 too high 22 Cart Additional Fee For WooCommerce 70+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #5 ↑1 17 too high 23 Eventward 400+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 ↑4 4 too high 24 Kiswa COD Fee for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 9 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.