Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “patreon”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Buy Me a Coffee – Membership, Paywall & Fundraiser with Stripe & PayPal shows at wp.org #13 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 90+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Social Login places #8 on merit, 4.3★ from 366 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam 400K+ · 5.0★ (1472) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons 100K+ · 4.8★ (5333) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Patreon WordPress 3K+ · 3.4★ (55) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Shariff Wrapper 30K+ · 4.9★ (101) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 WP Socializer – Simple & Easy Social Media Share Icons 10K+ · 4.5★ (128) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 Donation Platform for WooCommerce: Fundraising & Donation Management 7K+ · 4.9★ (99) wp.org #8 ↑2 2 too low 7 Buy Me a Coffee – Button and Widget Plugin 6K+ · 3.8★ (18) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 Social Login 4K+ · 4.3★ (366) wp.org #22 ↓1 14 too low 9 Radio Station by netmix® – Manage and play your Show Schedule in WordPress! 1K+ · 4.6★ (30) wp.org #12 ↑1 3 too low 10 Superb Social Media Share Buttons and Follow Buttons 6K+ · 4.4★ (11) wp.org #11 1 too low 11 Socicon 200+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #7 ↑1 4 too high 12 AI website builder for the block editor and Elementor – Advanced Addons 600+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #9 ↓3 3 too high 13 SweepWidget – Giveaway, Contest, Sweepstakes, Competition & Photo Contest Plugin 100+ · 4.3★ (14) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 Tip Jar WP 200+ · 3.3★ (7) wp.org #10 ↓1 4 too high 15 Social Media Shortcodes 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 16 FICTBASE 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 ↑1 17 Coug Latest Posts for Patreon — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓2 3 too high 18 Buy Me a Coffee – Membership, Paywall & Fundraiser with Stripe & PayPal 90+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↑1 5 too high 19 Thaikadar AI SEO Agent — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too low 20 Alpaca Bot 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too high 21 Tiny Simple AdBlock Detector 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 BeePixel Header Footer Builder for Elementor 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↑1 4 too high 23 ChamaWP – Monetize With Donations, Memberships, Crowdfunding, Commissions & Restricted Content 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Patrons Tips — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓1 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.