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

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 “nutshell”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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 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

Magic robots.txt shows at wp.org #5 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 19 places. Its 1K+ 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.

Buried gem

AMP places #12 on merit, 3.8★ from 367 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 LazyLoad Plugin – Lazy Load Images, Videos, and Iframes 100K+ · 4.2★ (139) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Affiliate Program Suite — SliceWP Affiliates 10K+ · 4.9★ (111) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Weight Based Shipping Table Rate for WooCommerce – Flexible Shipping 100K+ · 4.9★ (706) wp.org #7 4 too low 4 Flexible Checkout Fields for WooCommerce – WooCommerce Checkout Manager 80K+ · 4.7★ (296) wp.org #8 4 too low 5 Groups – Memberships and Access Control 10K+ · 4.8★ (382) wp.org #12 7 too low 6 WP Booking System – Booking Calendar 10K+ · 4.9★ (344) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 ShopMagic – email automation for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (78) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 Nutshell Analytics 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #1 7 too high 9 Flexible PDF Invoices for WooCommerce & WordPress 6K+ · 4.4★ (37) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 Advanced Form Integration — Connect Forms to 300+ Apps 9K+ · 4.8★ (91) wp.org #19 9 too low 11 Free Shipping Bar: Amount Left for Free Shipping for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (26) wp.org #16 5 too low 12 AMP 300K+ · 3.8★ (367) wp.org #23 11 too low 13 Snitch 700+ · 4.0★ (27) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 EU/UK VAT Validation Manager for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.8★ (39) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 Min Max Step Quantity Limits Manager for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 Custom Template for LearnDash 1K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #6 10 too high 17 WooCommerce Payfast Gateway 30K+ · 3.0★ (7) wp.org #3 14 too high 18 Cost of Goods: Product Cost & Profit Calculator for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.7★ (41) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 Flexible Quantity & Price Calculator for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.3★ (9) wp.org #13 6 too high 20 Chatbot for WordPress by Collect.chat ⚡️ 6K+ · 4.4★ (38) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Easy Tabs Block – Smart, Lightweight & Responsive Tabs for the Block Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #17 4 too high 22 Website Internal Link Optimiser 200+ · 4.1★ (8) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 Payment Methods by Product & Country for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.2★ (18) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 Magic robots.txt 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 19 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.