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← Rankings

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

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 “number”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 6 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

Animated Number Counters shows at wp.org #5 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.4★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 1667 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Sequential Order Number for WooCommerce 50K+ · 4.9★ (146) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Email Encoder – Protect Email Addresses and Phone Numbers 90K+ · 4.9★ (94) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #8 5 too low 4 Custom Order Numbers for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.2★ (25) wp.org #2 ↓1 2 too high 5 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) wp.org #10 ↑1 5 too low 6 Quiz Maker by AYS 20K+ · 4.9★ (601) wp.org #13 ↑4 7 too low 7 OTP Login With Phone Number, OTP Verification 1K+ · 4.9★ (81) wp.org #6 ↓3 1 too high 8 Counting Number Block 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #4 ↑1 4 too high 9 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #18 9 too low 10 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #16 ↓2 6 too low 11 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #23 ↓3 12 too low 12 Advanced Shipment Tracking for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.5★ (355) wp.org #12 ↑1 13 PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce 300K+ · 5.0★ (1865) wp.org #22 ↑1 9 too low 14 Sequential Order Numbers for WooCommerce 10K+ · 3.8★ (29) wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too high 15 Sequential Order Numbers for WooCommerce 900+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #9 6 too high 16 Serial Numbers – Ultimate License Manager for Selling, Licensing & Securely Delivering Digital Content with WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.7★ (78) wp.org #21 ↓5 5 too low 17 A Random Number 700+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #7 10 too high 18 Campos Checkout Brasileiro para WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 Counters Block – Animated Number Counters, Stats & Dynamic KPIs 3K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #14 ↓2 5 too high 20 Number of Products per Page – Pagination Manager for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #17 ↑2 3 too high 21 Animated Number Counters 2K+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #5 ↑1 16 too high 22 WP Counter Up – Animated Number Counter & Milestone Showcase 1K+ · 4.0★ (5) wp.org #19 ↑2 3 too high 23 Login With Mobile Number for Woocommerce 200+ · 3.3★ (4) wp.org #15 8 too high 24 Manage/Remove version number from CSS & JS 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↑2 4 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.