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← Rankings

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

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 “plants”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 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

Joy of Plants Library shows at wp.org #6 but places #10 on merit, a gap of 4 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Colibri Page Builder 80K+ · 4.4★ (80) wp.org #4 ↓1 3 too low 2 Form Plant 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #1 ↑1 1 too high 3 Move Addons for Elementor 2K+ · 4.0★ (6) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Tree-Nation for WooCommerce 100+ · 3.8★ (5) wp.org #2 ↓1 2 too high 5 Elemendas Addons 50+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too low 6 FooSales – Point of Sale (POS) for WooCommerce 600+ · 3.2★ (13) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Genolve – AI Business Graphics, Images & Video 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 DesignO 10+ · 3.6★ (10) wp.org #15 ↓2 7 too low 9 Brandy Sites – 20+ WooCommerce Website Starter Templates 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too high 10 Joy of Plants Library 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 Scientific and Interactive Blocks – inseri core 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 PlantShop for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 1 too high 13 Blog Content Automation – AI SEO autopilot for your blog 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↑3 1 too high 14 F Field Observation Showcase 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too high 15 Visitor Sentinel — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 1 too high 16 FloraSelector — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 17 Free WooCommerce Theme 99fy Extension 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 I Plant A Tree 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 O OneSeed Tree Planting for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 Gsoft Labs Fleet Quote Manager — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 3 too high 21 TankBud Species Cards — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 Stillward Security 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Nexura Security — Malware Scanner, Firewall, 2FA & WordPress Security 10+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #19 4 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.