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

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 “playwright”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

Urlbox Screenshots shows at wp.org #13 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 30+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.5★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 User Admin Simplifier 10K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #1 2 Waymark 900+ · 5.0★ (54) wp.org #2 3 Responsive Navigation Block 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Fortnox for WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 SweepWidget – Giveaway, Contest, Sweepstakes, Competition & Photo Contest Plugin 100+ · 4.3★ (14) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 One-V LLM Serve 10+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #11 5 too low 7 UK Address Postcode Validation 700+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #7 8 Init Content Protector – Anti-Copy, Anti-Scrape, Encrypt-All 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 I Izurutoys Confirmation Screen for Contact Form 7 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too high 10 SmartCloud Static Publisher 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too high 11 Lagersystem.dk: Parcelpickup locator for Woocommerce 40+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #4 7 too high 12 Init Void Shield – Zero-DB, Honeypot, Anti-Spam 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↑8 13 Webmarka Ad Click Protection for Google Ads 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓1 1 too low 14 Samurai Honeypot for Forms 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 R RockIt Link Health Monitor — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too low 16 320px Site Audit 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓1 3 too low 17 Y Youbou Code Block — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too low 18 WebDig.DEV Analytics 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 useHUMA — Invisible Bot Protection (No CAPTCHA) — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 RealTrace AI – Real Human and AI Traffic Counter — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 EasyCommerce FakerPress – Dummy & Test Data Generator for EasyCommerce — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↓1 3 too high 22 Guardrail Blocks — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Blocks Monster 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓2 7 too high 24 Urlbox Screenshots 30+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #13 ↓1 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.