Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “partials”, 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

Partial Shipment for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #5 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.4★ average from 9 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

PPWP – Password Protect Pages places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 271 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Deposits & Partial Payments for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (111) wp.org #1 2 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #2 3 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #9 ↑1 4 too low 6 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #10 ↑2 4 too low 7 Wallet for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.7★ (188) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too low 8 PiWeb Disable payment method / Partial payment for WooCommerce 4K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too high 9 Deposits & Partial Payments for WooCommerce – Bayna 1K+ · 5.0★ (49) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too high 10 DearFlip – PDF Flipbook, 3D Flipbook, PDF embed, PDF viewer 200K+ · 4.9★ (194) wp.org #13 ↑1 3 too low 11 PPWP – Password Protect Pages 30K+ · 4.7★ (271) wp.org #16 5 too low 12 Colibri Page Builder 80K+ · 4.4★ (80) wp.org #12 ↑1 13 Partial Shipment for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.4★ (9) wp.org #5 ↑1 8 too high 14 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (808) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 Event Tickets and Registration 90K+ · 3.5★ (236) wp.org #18 ↑1 3 too low 16 Wallet System for WooCommerce – Digital Wallet, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), Instant Cashback, Referral program, Partial & Subscription Payments 1K+ · 4.9★ (65) wp.org #20 ↑4 4 too low 17 Password Protected 300K+ · 4.4★ (142) wp.org #22 ↓19 5 too low 18 Advanced Partial Payment or Deposit for WooCommerce 200+ · 4.6★ (13) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 Content No Cache | Serve uncached partial content even when you add it to a page that is fully cached. 200+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #19 ↑2 1 too high 21 Better Block Editor (BBE) 6K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 EU Order Withdrawal Button for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.6★ (7) wp.org #14 ↑3 8 too high 23 ShopMagic Abandoned Cart Recovery for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #15 ↑3 8 too high 24 Shiptastic for WooCommerce 10K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #17 ↑3 7 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.