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

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 “partition”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 4 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

Dashboard: Available Disk Space shows at wp.org #9 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

StatCounter – Real Time Visitor Stats, Session Replay & Heatmaps places #1 on merit, 4.2★ from 56 reviews, but shows at wp.org #6. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 StatCounter – Real Time Visitor Stats, Session Replay & Heatmaps 70K+ · 4.2★ (56) wp.org #6 ↓1 5 too low 2 Ressources 60+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #2 3 Array Partition 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 H HyperDB 10+ · 4.1★ (14) wp.org #19 ↓2 15 too low 5 Advanced Passkeys for Secure Login 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 GhostLabs Serendipity – Masonry & Mosaic Photo Gallery Block — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 H Hyper Cache Extended 300+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #18 ↓2 11 too low 8 PishTop Content Suggestion with AI — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 ↓1 3 too high 9 Birttu 10+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #20 ↓2 11 too low 10 Fonts to Uploads 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 ↓1 3 too high 11 WP Disk Free 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too high 12 W Wizjo Monitor 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too high 13 AF Translate – AI Translation Editor, PO Editor & POT Generator for WordPress 700+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too high 14 Dashboard: Available Disk Space 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↓1 5 too high 15 Aths Guild Progress for WoW — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too high 16 S SharDB 10+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #21 ↓2 5 too low 17 First Party Analytics — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 eXPDesigns Speed — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓2 4 too high 19 Wille GEO – AI Crawler Stats, llms.txt & AI Visibility — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓2 4 too high 20 ConvertyBot — AI Sales Assistant for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓2 4 too high 21 Cloage WordPress Plugin — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓2 4 too high 22 C Category Sub-Blogs — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓2 1 too low 23 B BAAP Mobile Version 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓2 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.