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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “phone code”

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 “phone code”, 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

CallRail Phone Call Tracking shows at wp.org #9 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Phone Orders for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (32) wp.org #1 2 Email Encoder – Protect Email Addresses and Phone Numbers 90K+ · 4.9★ (94) wp.org #3 ↑2 1 too low 3 OTP Login With Phone Number, OTP Verification 1K+ · 4.9★ (81) wp.org #4 ↓2 1 too low 4 Smart phone field for Gravity Forms 5K+ · 4.2★ (23) wp.org #2 ↑2 2 too high 5 UPI QR Code Payment Gateway for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (256) wp.org #7 ↓4 2 too low 6 Country & Phone Field Contact Form 7 40K+ · 4.5★ (41) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too high 7 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #17 ↑5 10 too low 8 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #20 12 too low 9 Copy Anything to Clipboard for WordPress – Copy Button, Copy Text & Copy Code 10K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Country Code For Elementor Form Telephone Field 10K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #6 ↑1 4 too high 11 Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) wp.org #22 ↓5 11 too low 12 Simple Business Directory – AI Powered 300+ · 4.9★ (62) wp.org #23 ↑1 11 too low 13 Phone Validator with Flags for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 QR Code Composer – Automatic QR code generation 3K+ · 4.2★ (9) wp.org #8 6 too high 15 Qyrr – simply and modern QR-Code creation 2K+ · 3.8★ (21) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too high 16 CodeKit – Custom Codes Editor 7K+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #16 17 F4 Shipping Phone and E-Mail for WooCommerce 700+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 CallRail Phone Call Tracking 10K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #9 9 too high 19 Shop as Client for WooCommerce – Manual, Phone & Email Orders 500+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 Smart Phone Field For WPForms, Contact Form 7, Fluent Forms, Elementor Forms, WooCommerce, Formidable Forms, Ninja Forms 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #12 ↑1 8 too high 21 QR code MeCard/vCard generator 2K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #19 2 too high 22 Softech Country Phone Validator 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 Phone Button 700+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 Wawp Country Code & Chat Widget for WooCommerce 400+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24

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.