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

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 troubleshooting”, 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.

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Ranked above its merit

Troubleshooting shows at wp.org #6 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 700+ installs carry it up the search order; its 1.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery places #9 on merit, 4.7★ from 616 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #1 2 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Plugin Detective – Troubleshooting Conflicts 5K+ · 4.0★ (49) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #7 ↓2 8 Easy Updates Manager 300K+ · 4.8★ (726) wp.org #9 ↓2 1 too low 9 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #13 ↓2 4 too low 10 CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin by NiteoThemes 200K+ · 4.7★ (326) wp.org #14 ↓2 4 too low 11 Redis Object Cache 500K+ · 4.5★ (179) wp.org #11 ↓1 12 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #12 ↓3 13 Freesoul Deactivate Plugins – Disable plugins on individual WordPress pages 8K+ · 4.8★ (104) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too low 14 Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1489) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 WP Maps – Google Maps, OpenStreetMap, Mapbox, Store Locator with Search, Filters & Listings 60K+ · 4.3★ (122) wp.org #10 ↓2 5 too high 16 Lightbox & Modal Popup WordPress Plugin – FooBox 100K+ · 3.9★ (95) wp.org #15 ↓2 1 too high 17 WPFront Notification Bar 40K+ · 4.5★ (131) wp.org #24 ↓1 7 too low 18 Rate My Post – Star Rating Plugin by FeedbackWP 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #18 ↓1 19 Vimeotheque – Vimeo WordPress Plugin & Video Gallery 2K+ · 4.6★ (26) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too low 20 WP Debugging 10K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too high 21 AliNext – AliExpress Dropshipping Plugin for WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.3★ (53) wp.org #21 ↓1 22 Membership Plugin – Kadence Memberships 8K+ · 3.1★ (100) wp.org #23 ↓2 1 too low 23 Fatal Plugin Auto Deactivator – Never let a plugin break your site 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too high 24 T Troubleshooting 700+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #6 18 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.