Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “org”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 3 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

WPSSO Schema Organization and Place Manager shows at wp.org #6 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Simple Org Chart 900+ · 4.8★ (22) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Organization chart 5K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #3 4 Event Booking Manager for WooCommerce – Sell Tickets, Event Registration, RSVP & Event Calendar 7K+ · 4.5★ (167) wp.org #4 5 Interactive Image Map Plugin – Draw Attention 20K+ · 4.9★ (114) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too low 6 Chartify – WordPress Chart Plugin 3K+ · 4.9★ (28) wp.org #9 ↓2 3 too low 7 WP Plugin Info Card – Showcase Beautiful Plugin, Theme, and GitHub Cards Anywhere 400+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8 Breadcrumb Block 2K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 Donorbox – Free Recurring Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 8K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #17 ↓1 8 too low 10 Employee Directory – Staff & Team Directory 100+ · 4.1★ (16) wp.org #13 3 too low 11 Travelly – Tour & Travel Booking Manager for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.8★ (45) wp.org #20 9 too low 12 Graphina – Charts and Graphs For Elementor 9K+ · 4.1★ (16) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too low 13 F12 Floating Menu, sticky menu for WordPress 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too high 14 Popup builder with Gamification, Multi-Step Popups, Page-Level Targeting, and WooCommerce Triggers 70K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #19 ↓2 5 too low 15 OpenPorte Spam Protection 500+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #16 ↑3 1 too low 16 Clicface Organi 200+ · 2.6★ (5) wp.org #5 11 too high 17 Ray Enterprise Translation 7K+ · 2.6★ (48) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 Cryptex | E-Mail Address Protection 800+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #14 ↑1 4 too high 19 Paiement par Carte DAHABIA et Carte CIB for WooCommerce 80+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 WPSSO Schema Organization and Place Manager 300+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #6 14 too high 21 Block Archive.org via WordPress robots.txt 400+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↑1 13 too high 22 TeamGraph – Org Chart & Team Directory 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 Media embed for Archive.org 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↑1 24 Smart Contact Card 100+ · 0.0★ (0) 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.