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

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 summary”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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 on Mobile for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #5 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 7K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 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 Advanced Order Export For WooCommerce 100K+ · 5.0★ (350) wp.org #1 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too low 3 OneClick Chat to Order 30K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Live Summary for Gravity Forms 1K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #2 ↑1 2 too high 5 PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce 300K+ · 5.0★ (1865) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too low 6 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #6 ↑10 1 too high 8 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #14 ↓2 6 too low 9 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (808) wp.org #10 ↓2 1 too low 10 Post Views Counter 100K+ · 4.9★ (1238) wp.org #17 7 too low 11 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #19 ↓2 8 too low 12 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #24 ↓6 12 too low 13 Upsell Funnel Builder for WooCommerce – Create Upsells, Cross-Sells, Order Bumps, Frequently Bought, and Popups. 2K+ · 4.7★ (116) wp.org #13 ↓2 14 Order Tip for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.3★ (16) wp.org #7 ↓1 7 too high 15 ShopLentor – All-in-One WooCommerce Growth & Store Enhancement Plugin 80K+ · 4.5★ (278) wp.org #23 ↓9 8 too low 16 Share Buttons & AI-powered Summaries 1K+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #12 ↓2 4 too high 17 Order on Mobile for WooCommerce 7K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #5 ↓3 12 too high 18 Printus – Automatic Cloud Order Printing for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (27) wp.org #18 19 Ninjalytics: Sales Reports & Order Export for WooCommerce and EDD 6K+ · 4.4★ (57) wp.org #21 ↓2 2 too low 20 Order Status History for WooCommerce 900+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #15 ↓2 5 too high 21 BD Courier Order Ratio Checker 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 ↓2 10 too high 22 WPSummarize – AI Summaries with key takeaways for your posts 90+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #20 ↑2 2 too high 23 BumpMint – Order Bump for WooCommerce 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 7 too high 24 SDP Custom Order Status for WooCommerce 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↓1 2 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.