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

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 “pluggable”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 of the top 20. 3 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.

R

Ranked above its merit

Really Simple CAPTCHA for cformsII shows at wp.org #13 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Product Customer List for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.9★ (75) wp.org #1 2 Inline Image Upload for BBPress 3K+ · 4.6★ (65) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Simple Org Chart 900+ · 4.8★ (22) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 cformsII 3K+ · 4.3★ (21) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 WP Document Revisions 2K+ · 3.7★ (23) wp.org #5 6 Version Info – Server Health Monitor, PHP & MySQL Version Display, Environment Indicators 10K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 CF7 Submissions – Securely Store Contact Form 7 Data and Attachments, Reply to the Sender and more 2K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 WPO365 | SAMESITE 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 Alldar Lead Sync for Bitrix24 and AmoCRM 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↑1 3 too low 10 Groups Discount for WooCommerce 60+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 CoSchool LMS – A complete Learning Management System to Create and Sell Your Courses Online 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓1 4 too low 12 Noncensible 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↑2 2 too low 13 Duplica – Duplicate Posts, Pages, Custom Posts or Users 2K+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #9 4 too high 14 ChunkSafe Backup & Restore — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too low 15 Static Cache Wrangler – Headless Assistant — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 2 too low 16 A AI Article Autopilot — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 P Pipe9 Media Optimizer — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 2 too low 18 T Target _blank – Force links to open in a new tab 200+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 Balaeno Webmaster — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 FarmTours Bookings – Farm Tour Booking Calendar — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 1 too low 21 4WP Booking — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 Dev Highlighter — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 PressVitals Site Auditor — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 R Really Simple CAPTCHA for cformsII 300+ · 3.0★ (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.