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

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 “partnerships”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Impact: Partnership Cloud shows at wp.org #5 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Easy Accordion – AI-Powered FAQ & Accordion Blocks, Product FAQ places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 358 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #1 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #2 3 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #3 4 Under Construction 600K+ · 4.8★ (1285) wp.org #4 5 Minimal Coming Soon – Coming Soon Page 100K+ · 4.3★ (282) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning 30K+ · 4.8★ (1039) wp.org #11 5 too low 7 Charitable – Donation & Fundraising Platform (Donation Forms, Recurring Donations & Fundraising Campaigns) 10K+ · 4.9★ (219) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Patchstack – WordPress & Plugins Security 100K+ · 4.8★ (62) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 Booking for Appointments and Events Calendar – Amelia 90K+ · 4.6★ (793) wp.org #12 ↑1 3 too low 10 SlimStat Analytics – Real-Time Stats, Heatmaps & Ecommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (816) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too low 11 GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO 30K+ · 4.6★ (683) wp.org #17 ↓2 6 too low 12 Easy Accordion – AI-Powered FAQ & Accordion Blocks, Product FAQ 70K+ · 4.9★ (358) wp.org #21 ↑1 9 too low 13 Smart Post – Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider Gutenberg Blocks for Blog & News 20K+ · 4.7★ (210) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 ExactMetrics – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Plugin) 200K+ · 2.5★ (1546) wp.org #15 ↑3 1 too low 15 Affiliate Links – Link Cloaking and Management 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #14 ↑2 1 too high 16 YITH WooCommerce Affiliates 6K+ · 4.2★ (19) wp.org #16 ↑1 17 Impressum 4K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #8 9 too high 18 HIPAA Compliant Forms with Drag’n’Drop HIPAA Form Builder. Sign HIPAA documents 400+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #22 ↑1 4 too low 19 Checkout with Zelle on Woocommerce 3K+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #10 9 too high 20 Jock On Air Now (JOAN) 400+ · 3.8★ (9) wp.org #23 ↑1 3 too low 21 Checkout.com Payment Gateway 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 SMSA Shipping (official) 300+ · 3.0★ (6) wp.org #18 ↑1 4 too high 23 Impact: Partnership Cloud 300+ · 2.0★ (4) wp.org #5 18 too high 24 BotPenguin – Generative AI Chatbot with Live Chat & ChatGPT 600+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↑2 5 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.