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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “open pricing”

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 “open pricing”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 5 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

WBD Pricing Tables – Gutenberg Pricing Table & Comparison Block shows at wp.org #13 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 200+ 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

Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 4510 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Product Open Pricing (Name Your Price) for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.1★ (19) wp.org #1 2 Pricing Table by Supsystic 10K+ · 4.1★ (288) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Tiered Pricing Table for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.7★ (103) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – The Most Popular SMTP and Email Log Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (5203) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7509) wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too low 6 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2136) wp.org #11 5 too low 7 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4126) wp.org #9 ↑4 2 too low 8 SureRank SEO – Meta Tags, Social Preview, XML Sitemap, Schema & Open Graph 300K+ · 4.8★ (46) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too high 9 WRC Pricing Tables – Responsive CSS3 Pricing Tables 1K+ · 4.2★ (36) wp.org #5 ↑1 4 too high 10 Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 700K+ · 4.9★ (4510) wp.org #20 ↓3 10 too low 11 Pricing Table – Responsive & Easy 3K+ · 4.2★ (26) wp.org #4 7 too high 12 MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1432) wp.org #16 ↑2 4 too low 13 YayPricing – WooCommerce Dynamic Pricing & Discounts 3K+ · 5.0★ (72) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #21 ↓5 7 too low 15 WholesaleX – All-in-One B2B Solution with Wholesale Pricing 2K+ · 5.0★ (67) wp.org #18 3 too low 16 Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (183) wp.org #22 ↓1 6 too low 17 WPC Name Your Price for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.4★ (19) wp.org #10 7 too high 18 Open Close Store for WooCommerce – Business Hours & Order Scheduling 600+ · 3.4★ (41) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 Price by Quantity & Bulk Quantity Discounts for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #17 ↑2 2 too high 20 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #12 ↓5 8 too high 21 WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments 800K+ · 3.4★ (173) wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too high 22 RioVizual — Table Blocks for Comparison, Pricing and Pros & Cons 1K+ · 4.6★ (12) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 too low 23 Name Your Price: Make Your Own Offer for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 WBD Pricing Tables – Gutenberg Pricing Table & Comparison Block 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↓1 11 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.