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

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 “portugues”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Hand Talk shows at wp.org #8 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Product Bundle Builder for WooCommerce places #6 on merit, 4.8★ from 61 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

How this rank is calculated

Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.

A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.

A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.

Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Accessibility Widget by OneTap – Easy One-Click Accessibility Toolbar 60K+ · 4.9★ (80) wp.org #3 ↑1 2 too low 2 NIF (Num. de Contribuinte Português) for WooCommerce 5K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 SportsPress – Sports Club & League Manager 10K+ · 4.7★ (369) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 WC – APG Weight Shipping 6K+ · 4.3★ (49) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 Send Emails with Mandrill 6K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 Product Bundle Builder for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.8★ (61) wp.org #11 ↑5 5 too low 7 Protect the Children! 1K+ · 4.9★ (15) wp.org #7 ↑4 8 WP Club Manager – WordPress Sports Club Plugin 600+ · 4.7★ (40) wp.org #15 ↓1 7 too low 9 Archivarix External Images Importer 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too low 10 Expire User Passwords 3K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #6 ↑1 4 too high 11 Widget Visibility Time Scheduler 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #12 ↑1 1 too low 12 WC – APG Free Shipping 1K+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #14 ↓2 2 too low 13 wp-forecast 4K+ · 4.2★ (23) wp.org #20 ↑2 7 too low 14 Bible Verse of the Day 3K+ · 4.9★ (11) wp.org #18 ↑1 4 too low 15 ProScores – Live Scores 800+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #9 ↓1 6 too high 16 iCalendrier 600+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #13 ↓3 3 too high 17 Nota Fiscal Eletrônica Webmania 400+ · 4.3★ (11) wp.org #17 18 Reseller Store 1K+ · 3.7★ (10) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too high 19 Multibanco / MB Way / Payshop (by LUSOPAY) for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #23 ↓6 4 too low 20 RaCar Clear Cart for WooCommerce 400+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #24 ↓1 4 too low 21 Hand Talk 400+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #8 ↓3 13 too high 22 Web accessibility widget by tabnav 300+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 Edit Usernames 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 HT Security 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↓2 2 too high

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.