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← Rankings

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

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 “pm”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

imoje shows at wp.org #8 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPCafe – Restaurant Menu, Online Food Ordering & Table Booking System places #12 on merit, 4.6★ from 113 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Front End PM 4K+ · 4.8★ (220) wp.org #1 2 Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270) wp.org #2 3 VikBooking Hotel Booking Engine & PMS 8K+ · 4.8★ (61) wp.org #3 4 Delivery & Pickup Date Time for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (282) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 WP Date and Time Shortcode 10K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 PPWP – Password Protect Pages 30K+ · 4.7★ (271) wp.org #9 ↑4 3 too low 7 WPC Product Timer for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.8★ (24) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 HurryTimer – An Scarcity and Urgency Countdown Timer for WordPress & WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.8★ (170) wp.org #13 ↑6 5 too low 9 Timed Content 5K+ · 4.6★ (41) wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too low 10 FlatPM – Ad Manager, AdSense and Custom Code 10K+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker – WCAG, ADA, EAA and Section 508 compliance 10K+ · 4.9★ (80) wp.org #19 ↑2 8 too low 12 WPCafe – Restaurant Menu, Online Food Ordering & Table Booking System 5K+ · 4.6★ (113) wp.org #21 ↑1 9 too low 13 Date Time Picker for Contact Form 7 20K+ · 3.3★ (21) wp.org #12 ↓3 1 too high 14 Availability Datepicker – Booking Calendar for Contact Form 7 – Input WP 10K+ · 4.1★ (42) wp.org #24 ↓1 10 too low 15 Simple Digital Clock 🕒 500+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #14 1 too high 16 Drip – Marketing Automation for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #10 6 too high 17 Dynamic Pricing and Discount Rules 1K+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #20 ↓2 3 too low 18 imoje 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 10 too high 19 Royal Mail Shipping Calculator for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.4★ (8) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 Shipday Local Delivery for WooCommerce 700+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #17 ↓2 3 too high 21 Display During Conditional Shortcode 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 ↑1 5 too high 22 Date Time Picker for WPForms 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓4 7 too high 23 AboveWP Admin Dark Mode 90+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↓2 1 too high 24 BugHerd 3K+ · 3.5★ (4) wp.org #18 ↓2 6 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.