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

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 “personalization”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 5 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

Gravatar Enhanced – Avatars, Profiles, and Privacy shows at wp.org #6 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 100K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 4699 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 If-So Dynamic Content – Elementor & All Page Builders Personalization 7K+ · 4.7★ (92) wp.org #1 2 Personizely — A/B Testing, Personalization, Popups & CRO 300+ · 4.8★ (25) wp.org #2 ↑2 3 Popup Builder & Popup Maker for WordPress – OptinMonster Email Marketing and Lead Generation 1M+ · 4.3★ (821) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups 20K+ · 4.9★ (701) wp.org #8 ↑5 4 too low 5 Block Visibility — Conditional Visibility Control for the Block Editor 40K+ · 4.9★ (108) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Convesio Convert – WooCommerce Email Marketing Automation with Website Personalization, Popups and Forms 80+ · 4.8★ (17) wp.org #4 ↑2 2 too high 7 FiboSearch – Ajax Search for WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.9★ (1815) wp.org #10 ↓2 3 too low 8 Dynamic Visibility for Elementor 50K+ · 4.6★ (89) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #23 ↑1 14 too low 10 Checkout Field Editor (Checkout Manager) for WooCommerce 400K+ · 4.9★ (1056) wp.org #22 ↓2 12 too low 11 PPOM – Product Addons & Custom Fields for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.5★ (283) wp.org #11 ↑1 12 Quiz Builder for WooCommerce – Product Recommendations 2K+ · 5.0★ (102) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 YayMail – WooCommerce Email Customizer 50K+ · 4.8★ (291) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 CartFlows – Funnel Builder & Checkout Plugin for WooCommerce 200K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 CartBounty – Save and recover abandoned carts for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #17 ↑2 2 too low 16 WP Search with Algolia 7K+ · 4.5★ (24) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 Popup builder with Gamification, Multi-Step Popups, Page-Level Targeting, and WooCommerce Triggers 70K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #12 ↑5 5 too high 18 Thank You Page for WooCommerce 10K+ · 5.0★ (43) wp.org #20 ↑1 2 too low 19 Gravatar Enhanced – Avatars, Profiles, and Privacy 100K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 ↑4 13 too high 20 Custom Order Numbers for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.2★ (25) wp.org #15 ↓6 5 too high 21 Logic Hop – Dynamic Content Personalization for WordPress 70+ · 4.5★ (10) wp.org #19 ↓5 2 too high 22 LeadConnector 20K+ · 2.3★ (11) wp.org #9 ↑2 13 too high 23 ShopMagic Abandoned Cart Recovery for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 Personyze: AI Personalization, Recommendations & A/B Testing 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↑2 11 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.