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

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 “nocookie”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Buried gem

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk places #1 on merit, 4.8★ from 3221 reviews, but shows at wp.org #6. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #6 ↑1 5 too low 2 KineticHub – Animated Blocks 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Able Player, accessible HTML5 media player 300+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too high 4 My Agile Privacy® – CMP, Cookie Consent & Privacy Tools 7K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #9 ↑1 5 too low 5 YEP: Optimize YouTube Embeds 70+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #10 ↓1 5 too low 6 Osom for YouTube – Make YouTube embed block privacy-friendly 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #3 ↓1 3 too high 7 Qaiyo Social Video Embed 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 GemFind Ring Builder 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Y YouList – YouTube playlist shortcode 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #20 11 too low 10 BarkingLlama Roulette — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 ↓1 3 too high 11 Media Fields for Contact Form 7 – Video, Audio, 3D, Gallery and PDF Fields — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 3 too high 12 Really Simple Featured Image: Automatic Featured Images 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 1 too high 13 E Enhanced Embed Block for YouTube & Vimeo 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↑1 1 too high 14 Y Youtube No-Cookie Embed 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 Lite YouTube Embed 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too high 16 SwiftNotify – Instant Order Alerts for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 Share of Answer Video Pages — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 Deepglot — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↑1 2 too high 19 Peki – Bokio Integration for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too high 20 E EU Tube User Privacy 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 Y Youtube Privacy 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21

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.