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← Rankings

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

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 “parsing”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

Video Dashboard shows at wp.org #8 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 600+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Embed Plus for YouTube Gallery, Livestream and Lazy Loading with Facades places #9 on merit, 4.6★ from 572 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #1 2 EWWW Image Optimizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1842) wp.org #2 3 Germanized for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (496) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Easy Table of Contents 600K+ · 4.4★ (221) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5 WP-DBManager 50K+ · 4.4★ (95) wp.org #5 6 CM Tooltip Glossary 7K+ · 4.3★ (157) wp.org #6 7 WPeMatico RSS Feed Fetcher 10K+ · 4.8★ (514) wp.org #14 ↑1 7 too low 8 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too low 9 Embed Plus for YouTube Gallery, Livestream and Lazy Loading with Facades 100K+ · 4.6★ (572) wp.org #19 ↑1 10 too low 10 SEO Media Manager 5K+ · 4.8★ (18) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 PeproDev Ultimate Invoice 5K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #13 ↑1 2 too low 12 WP Cassify 900+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #11 ↑1 1 too high 13 Tangible: Loops & Logic 2K+ · 4.9★ (39) wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too low 14 Event Espresso – Event Registration & Ticketing Sales 500+ · 4.4★ (136) wp.org #21 ↑2 7 too low 15 Affiliate Super Assistent 1K+ · 4.6★ (36) wp.org #17 ↑1 2 too low 16 Video Dashboard 600+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #8 ↑1 8 too high 17 Quill Forms | Conversational Multi Step Forms, Surveys & quizzes 3K+ · 4.8★ (44) wp.org #22 ↑2 5 too low 18 Blank Footnotes 300+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #10 ↑1 8 too high 19 SmartDoc to Post Importer 300+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #12 ↑1 7 too high 20 Glossary Tooltip – Highlight Terms & Show Tooltips 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 ↑1 2 too high 21 Debug Log Viewer 1K+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #15 ↑1 6 too high 22 Easy Image Optimizer 60+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↑1 2 too high 23 I InstaMigrate 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓1 24 PlatformInfo 70+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.