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

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 wordpress”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 3 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

Buy Me a Coffee – Button and Widget Plugin shows at wp.org #7 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 6K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.8★ average from 18 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Media File Renamer: Rename Images & Files for SEO (AI-Powered) places #12 on merit, 4.6★ from 447 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too low 2 WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam 400K+ · 5.0★ (1471) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Patreon WordPress 3K+ · 3.4★ (55) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons 100K+ · 4.8★ (5333) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Shariff Wrapper 30K+ · 4.9★ (101) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 SEO Engine – Smart SEO with AI, Schema & Redirection for WordPress 1K+ · 4.9★ (48) wp.org #6 7 WP Socializer – Simple & Easy Social Media Share Icons 10K+ · 4.5★ (128) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 Media Cleaner: Delete Unused Images & Clean Your Media Library 90K+ · 4.6★ (779) wp.org #16 8 too low 9 Donation Platform for WooCommerce: Fundraising & Donation Management 7K+ · 4.9★ (99) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 Perfect Images: Regenerate Thumbnails, Image Sizes, WebP & AVIF 60K+ · 4.8★ (279) wp.org #21 11 too low 11 Database Cleaner: Cleanup, Optimization & Repair 10K+ · 5.0★ (150) wp.org #20 9 too low 12 Media File Renamer: Rename Images & Files for SEO (AI-Powered) 40K+ · 4.6★ (447) wp.org #24 12 too low 13 Gallery Custom Links 30K+ · 4.7★ (208) wp.org #22 9 too low 14 Radio Station by netmix® – Manage and play your Show Schedule in WordPress! 1K+ · 4.6★ (30) wp.org #8 6 too high 15 Code Engine – PHP Snippets, AI Functions & Automation for WordPress 800+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #12 3 too high 16 Buy Me a Coffee – Button and Widget Plugin 6K+ · 3.8★ (18) wp.org #7 9 too high 17 Superb Social Media Share Buttons and Follow Buttons 6K+ · 4.4★ (11) wp.org #17 18 Meow Workflow – AI Agents & No-Code Automation for WordPress 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 9 too high 19 Socicon 200+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #13 6 too high 20 Tip Jar WP 200+ · 3.3★ (7) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 AI website builder for the block editor and Elementor – Advanced Addons 600+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 7 too high 22 FICTBASE 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Coug Latest Posts for Patreon — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 Buy Me a Coffee – Membership, Paywall & Fundraiser with Stripe & PayPal 90+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #19 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.