Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “openrouter”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

AI Provider for OpenRouter shows at wp.org #1 but places #11 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 400+ 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

BetterDocs – AI Documentation, Knowledge Base, MCP Server, Docs, Wikis, FAQ & Chatbot places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 515 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 AI Puffer – AI Chatbot & MCP Server for Claude and ChatGPT 10K+ · 4.6★ (166) wp.org #6 ↑2 5 too low 2 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #10 ↑7 8 too low 3 WPBot – AI ChatBot for Live Support, Lead Generation, WordPress Automation, AI Services 5K+ · 4.7★ (124) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Slim SEO – AI SEO Plugin, Lightweight, Fast & Automated 70K+ · 4.7★ (136) wp.org #12 ↑3 7 too low 6 WP Wand – AI Content Writer for OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, OpenRouter and Deepseek 1K+ · 3.8★ (10) wp.org #2 4 too high 7 BetterDocs – AI Documentation, Knowledge Base, MCP Server, Docs, Wikis, FAQ & Chatbot 30K+ · 4.8★ (515) wp.org #17 10 too low 8 Rapls AI Chatbot – Self-Hosted RAG & MCP Server 90+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #5 ↑3 3 too high 9 ThinkRank SEO – AI SEO Plugin for SEO & Google Search Console 20K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #9 ↓2 10 CF7 Mate – Contact Form 7 Styler, Multi-Step Forms & Conditional Logic 20K+ · 3.9★ (46) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 AI Provider for OpenRouter 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 10 too high 12 BEW – Elementor Addons, Templates & AI Builder 20K+ · 4.5★ (28) wp.org #21 ↓3 9 too low 13 AI Product Tools – Bulk Product Content Generator & AI Toolkit for WooCommerce 500+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #19 ↓8 6 too low 14 Resolai – AI Chatbot for Customer Support 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #11 3 too high 15 Flex MCP – Connect ChatGPT, Claude and AI agents with MCP, Undo, Abilities and Tools. 900+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #14 ↓8 1 too high 16 PolyTranslate AI for Polylang 300+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #13 ↓3 3 too high 17 Aiify – ChatGPT, Ollama and OpenRouter AI Copywriting, Content Writing and Editing 90+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 ↓6 2 too high 18 AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 10 too high 19 HHG for TranslatePress 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 ↓2 3 too high 20 SmartyPress AI Engine — Free AI Engine for Content Generation 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 ↓5 4 too low 21 Wpbingo AI Commander for WooCommerce 500+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓3 3 too high 22 AltGenix AI Image SEO 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 Scrumptious – Recipe Cards 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too high 24 A AISO Post Summary OpenRouter — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓3 1 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.