Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “outsourcing”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 of the top 17. 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

merit plugin wp.org
1 RepairBuddy – Repair Shop CRM & Booking Plugin for WordPress 400+ · 4.9★ (24) wp.org #4 3 too low 2 AI Content Wizard Lite — SEO Content & Planner for OpenAI, Claude, DeepSeek & Gemini 10+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #5 3 too low 3 Eway Payments for Woo 3K+ · 3.2★ (5) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 WF Magnific Lightbox 1K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #9 5 too low 5 MBE eShip 1K+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 PlatiOnline Payments 700+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 WP Crontrol Hours 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Ascue — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 Calliope — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 MisterChat — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 11 OVN Category List Widget for Elementor 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 12 OutsourcingVN Change category name — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 13 Archisketch – 3D Interior Design Solution — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 14 Registered User Dashboard Widget — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 15 OVN Auto change post title — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 2 too low 16 GoChat247 – Live Chat Outsourcing — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 WP SIMILE Timeline 20+ · 3.3★ (3) wp.org #16 1 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.