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← Rankings

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

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 “period”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Pay with Vipps and MobilePay for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #6 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 13 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Import and export users and customers places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 259 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 WP 2FA – Two-factor authentication for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (184) wp.org #4 5 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #5 6 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #10 ↑1 4 too low 7 Statify 100K+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #7 ↑1 8 Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270) wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too low 9 Post Views Counter 100K+ · 4.9★ (1237) wp.org #15 6 too low 10 Login Lockdown & Protection 100K+ · 4.3★ (61) wp.org #9 ↓2 1 too high 11 Simple Comment Editing 2K+ · 4.8★ (55) wp.org #12 ↑4 1 too low 12 Import and export users and customers 70K+ · 4.7★ (259) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 Pay with Vipps and MobilePay for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.8★ (13) wp.org #6 7 too high 14 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #14 ↑3 15 First payment date for WooCommerce Subscriptions 400+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #8 ↑1 7 too high 16 Responsive Mortgage Calculator 7K+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #18 ↓5 2 too low 17 Omnibus — show the lowest price 10K+ · 4.1★ (51) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Idle User Logout 1K+ · 4.1★ (18) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too high 19 Log Emails 6K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #17 ↓2 2 too high 20 Booking Package 10K+ · 4.0★ (15) wp.org #16 4 too high 21 Mollie Payments for WooCommerce 100K+ · 3.6★ (69) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 Mortgage Calculator 4K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 WebToffee EU Order Withdrawal Button for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #20 ↓6 3 too high 24 Free Trial Coupon for WooCommerce Subscriptions 200+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 3 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.