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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “plugin inspection”

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 “plugin inspection”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Rankology SEO and Analytics Tool shows at wp.org #12 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 300+ 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.

Buried gem

AI Puffer – AI Chatbot & MCP Server for Claude and ChatGPT places #7 on merit, 4.6★ from 166 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Image Watermark 40K+ · 4.2★ (298) wp.org #1 2 CrawlWP SEO – Complete WordPress SEO Plugin with AI, Indexing & Search Performance 30K+ · 4.7★ (62) wp.org #2 3 Simply Schedule Appointments 50K+ · 5.0★ (155) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 Easy Property Listings 5K+ · 4.7★ (112) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Real Cookie Banner: GDPR & ePrivacy Cookie Consent 100K+ · 4.9★ (492) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 Toolkit for Polylang – Translation Inspector & Duplicate Content 10K+ · 4.5★ (33) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too high 7 AI Puffer – AI Chatbot & MCP Server for Claude and ChatGPT 10K+ · 4.6★ (166) wp.org #16 ↑1 9 too low 8 NGG Smart Image Search 400+ · 4.9★ (13) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too high 9 Quttera ThreatSign – Web Malware Scanner for WordPress 10K+ · 3.9★ (47) wp.org #9 ↓1 10 Debug Log Manager Tool 3K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #10 11 ProctoPress : Quiz/Exam Proctoring For Learning Management System(LMS) 100+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #17 ↓1 6 too low 12 Variable Inspector 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #14 ↓2 2 too low 13 O OST Site Inspection 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↑1 5 too high 14 SEO Pyramid 40+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 FooGallery Migrate 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↓9 8 too low 16 Hide Author Archive 600+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 5 too high 17 Picture Gallery – Frontend Uploads & Image Editor 400+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 JAZ-X Code Inspection — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 Rankology SEO and Analytics Tool 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↑1 7 too high 20 X XCodesol Home Inspection Manager — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 Auto Login for Sakura Rental Server 20K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓1 22 Init Content Protector – Anti-Copy, Anti-Scrape, Encrypt-All 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 CopyBlocker Pro – Content Protection 80+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too high 24 PatchOn Agent 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 2 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.