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

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 “polylang”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Language Switcher for Polylang – Elementor, Gutenberg, & Divi shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 1K+ 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

Customer Reviews for WooCommerce places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 1539 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 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3003) wp.org #1 2 WPML to Polylang 5K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #2 3 Connect Polylang for Elementor 100K+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #3 4 Toolkit for Polylang – Translation Inspector & Duplicate Content 10K+ · 4.5★ (33) wp.org #4 5 Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.7★ (1071) wp.org #11 6 too low 6 AutoPoly – AI Translation For Polylang 5K+ · 4.6★ (30) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too high 7 Hyyan Integration for WooCommerce and Polylang 8K+ · 4.7★ (124) wp.org #7 8 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #18 ↓2 10 too low 9 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #19 10 too low 10 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #21 ↓1 11 too low 11 Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406) wp.org #17 ↓4 6 too low 12 Post Types Order 600K+ · 4.5★ (296) wp.org #15 3 too low 13 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too low 14 Breadcrumb NavXT 800K+ · 4.6★ (132) wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too high 15 Multilingual Contact Form 7 with Polylang 9K+ · 4.9★ (17) wp.org #9 ↓2 6 too high 16 Table Field Add-on for ACF and SCF 50K+ · 4.9★ (60) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 ACF Options For Polylang 20K+ · 4.4★ (17) wp.org #6 ↓1 11 too high 18 Export All URLs 50K+ · 4.6★ (94) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 AI Translator for Polylang 70+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #12 ↓2 7 too high 20 A AI Translate For Polylang 100+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 PolyTranslate AI for Polylang 300+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #10 ↓1 11 too high 22 Language Switcher for Polylang – Elementor, Gutenberg, & Divi 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 14 too high 23 CookieAdmin – Cookie Consent Banner 400K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #23 24 SkyLang Auto Translator for Polylang 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24

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.