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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “order count”

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 “order count”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Order Cancellation & Returns for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #15 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 300+ 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

UpsellWP – Upsell and Related Products Offers for WooCommerce places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 149 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #1 2 Category Order and Taxonomy Terms Order 500K+ · 4.5★ (162) wp.org #2 3 Custom Taxonomy Order 50K+ · 4.8★ (96) wp.org #3 4 Order Export & Order Import for WooCommerce 50K+ · 4.7★ (337) wp.org #4 5 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #5 6 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 WC Cancel Order 5K+ · 4.9★ (23) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 B bbP topic count 300+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #8 9 Post View Count 4K+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #9 ↑1 10 Upsell Funnel Builder for WooCommerce – Create Upsells, Cross-Sells, Order Bumps, Frequently Bought, and Popups. 2K+ · 4.7★ (116) wp.org #19 9 too low 11 UpsellWP – Upsell and Related Products Offers for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (149) wp.org #24 13 too low 12 Sequential Order Numbers for WooCommerce 900+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #12 13 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #23 ↓3 10 too low 14 Sequential Order Numbers for WooCommerce 10K+ · 3.8★ (29) wp.org #14 15 Ninjalytics: Sales Reports & Order Export for WooCommerce and EDD 6K+ · 4.4★ (57) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 N Ni WooCommerce Custom Order Status 2K+ · 4.1★ (16) wp.org #11 5 too high 17 Order Limit for WooCommerce (Free Version) 800+ · 4.2★ (13) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 WP All Export – Order Export for WooCommerce 3K+ · 3.9★ (8) wp.org #10 ↓1 8 too high 19 Total Sales Counts for WooCommerce 700+ · 4.8★ (11) wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too high 20 Sales Count Manager for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #21 ↑2 1 too low 21 Additional Order Filters for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #18 ↓2 3 too high 22 Init View Count – AI-Powered, Trending, REST API 80+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 ↑1 5 too high 23 Order List Table Elementor Widget for WooCommerce 400+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Order Cancellation & Returns for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 9 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.