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

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 “opinion”, we agree with wp.org 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

OpinionCamp – Poll Block shows at wp.org #5 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 100+ 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

Tickera – Sell Tickets & Manage Events places #7 on merit, 4.5★ from 292 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 Quiz Maker, Poll Maker & Survey Maker by Opinion Stage 6K+ · 4.4★ (277) wp.org #1 2 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #2 3 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #11 ↑1 8 too low 4 WP Migrate Lite – Migration Made Easy 200K+ · 4.2★ (318) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Gravity Forms Zero Spam 100K+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Poll Maker by AYS – Versus Polls, Anonymous Polls, Image Polls 6K+ · 4.4★ (91) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Tickera – Sell Tickets & Manage Events 2K+ · 4.5★ (292) wp.org #17 10 too low 8 Widgets for Booking.com Reviews 9K+ · 4.9★ (65) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 La Sentinelle antispam 3K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too low 10 Crowdsignal Dashboard – Polls, Surveys & more 200K+ · 2.7★ (34) wp.org #4 6 too high 11 TotalPoll for Polls and Contests 1K+ · 4.3★ (45) wp.org #19 ↓1 8 too low 12 Which Elementor Addon 400+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #20 ↓1 8 too low 13 Opinion System note & avis Demo 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 10 too high 14 Promolayer – Popup Builder & Abandonment Preventer 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 News Kit Addons For Elementor 3K+ · 3.6★ (5) wp.org #9 6 too high 16 neo Rename – AI Media Renamer for renaming images & alt text with batch processing 200+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #24 ↓2 8 too low 17 OpinionCamp – Poll Block 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 12 too high 18 SurveyX Builder – Survey, Poll, Quiz & Feedback Form 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 2 too high 19 Trendly AI Post – AI Content Generator, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Google News Auto Blog 50+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #23 ↓2 4 too low 20 WP Consent API 200K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 12 too high 21 Matomo Tracker 100+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #21 ↓1 22 neo Alt – AI Alt Text Generator for images with bulk processing – Free and No API Key Required 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↑1 23 Coupon URLs – Apply a Coupon from a Custom Link – for WooCommerce 100+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #18 ↑6 5 too high 24 Remove Gutenberg 300+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #13 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.