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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “optional content”

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 “optional content”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Essential Content Types shows at wp.org #9 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 20K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

SimpleTOC – Table of Contents Block places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 77 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 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #1 2 Content Control – The Ultimate Content Restriction Solution! Restrict Content, Create Conditional Blocks & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (575) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content 10K+ · 4.2★ (60) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270) wp.org #7 ↑3 2 too low 6 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #5 ↓2 1 too high 7 Get Use APIs – JSON Content Importer 5K+ · 4.9★ (78) wp.org #11 ↓3 4 too low 8 Timed Content 5K+ · 4.6★ (41) wp.org #8 ↑1 9 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 If-So Dynamic Content – Elementor & All Page Builders Personalization 7K+ · 4.7★ (92) wp.org #14 ↑1 4 too low 11 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #13 ↓6 2 too low 12 SimpleTOC – Table of Contents Block 10K+ · 4.9★ (77) wp.org #17 ↑4 5 too low 13 AI Puffer – AI Chatbot & MCP Server for Claude and ChatGPT 10K+ · 4.6★ (166) wp.org #19 6 too low 14 Cookies and Content Security Policy 10K+ · 4.9★ (67) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too high 15 Content Visibility for Divi Builder 2K+ · 4.8★ (101) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 Toolkit for Polylang – Translation Inspector & Duplicate Content 10K+ · 4.5★ (33) wp.org #16 ↑1 17 Widget Content Blocks 10K+ · 4.8★ (60) wp.org #22 ↑2 5 too low 18 Content Egg – Affiliate Product Importer & Price Comparison 10K+ · 3.9★ (56) wp.org #10 ↑2 8 too high 19 Restrict – membership, site, content and user access restrictions for WordPress 2K+ · 4.2★ (25) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 Interactive Content – H5P 40K+ · 4.8★ (61) wp.org #21 ↑2 1 too low 21 RPS Include Content 700+ · 4.9★ (18) wp.org #23 ↓1 2 too low 22 AI Content Signals 800+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 ↑1 7 too high 23 Essential Content Types 20K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #9 ↑2 14 too high 24 Table Of Contents Block 10K+ · 4.3★ (7) wp.org #24

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.