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← Rankings

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

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 “performer”, 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

WPSSO Schema Organization and Place Manager shows at wp.org #7 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Ninjalytics: Sales Reports & Order Export for WooCommerce and EDD places #10 on merit, 4.4★ from 57 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 EventPrime – Events Calendar, Bookings, Tickets & AI 7K+ · 4.4★ (85) wp.org #1 2 WPMR Google Feed Manager for WooCommerce – Sell on Google Merchant Center & Shopping 10K+ · 4.5★ (127) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Visual Composer Website Builder 30K+ · 4.6★ (220) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 BetterLinks – Link Shortener, Link Cloaking, Redirects, Affiliate Link Manager & MCP 20K+ · 4.8★ (85) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 WP Bannerize Pro 800+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 Enfants IMG Performer 30+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #2 4 too high 7 Sugar Calendar – Events Calendar, Event Tickets, and Events Management Platform 10K+ · 4.5★ (24) wp.org #8 ↑3 1 too low 8 Document Viewer – let visitors view files right in the browser 2K+ · 4.7★ (52) wp.org #11 ↓2 3 too low 9 Structured Content (JSON-LD) #wpsc 30K+ · 4.6★ (25) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 Ninjalytics: Sales Reports & Order Export for WooCommerce and EDD 6K+ · 4.4★ (57) wp.org #15 5 too low 11 Headline Analyzer 900+ · 4.3★ (14) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 Paid Videochat Turnkey Site – HTML5 PPV Live Webcams 10+ · 4.2★ (22) wp.org #13 ↓5 1 too low 13 WC Affiliate – WooCommerce Affiliate Plugin 300+ · 4.6★ (16) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 EventAgent.ai 10+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too low 15 MMWW 200+ · 4.5★ (11) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 WPSSO Schema Organization and Place Manager 300+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #7 9 too high 17 Picture Gallery – Frontend Uploads & Image Editor 400+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #9 ↑4 8 too high 18 Plinkly – Smart CTA Buttons 10+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 Reference Manager for WordPress with Footnotes, Citations, Bibliographies, Tooltips and Glossary 60+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too high 20 CJ Network Integration 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 Event Calendar, Event Tickets, Event Registration & Booking – Eventixa 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↑5 5 too high 22 GigManager 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓3 1 too high 23 Sales Analytics for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 Yay Wholesale B2B for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 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.