wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “post purchase”
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 “post purchase”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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
WooCommerce PayPal Payments shows at wp.org #8 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 800K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.9★ average from 583 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172)
wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too low 2 
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322)
wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too low 3 
Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1526)
wp.org #6 3 too low 4 
Minimum Purchase Amount For Woo Cart – For WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.7★ (9) thin reviews
wp.org #1 ↑1 3 too high 5 
Ultimate Post Kit – Elementor Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider & Blog Layout Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (58)
wp.org #3 ↓1 2 too high 6 
Rate My Post – Star Rating Plugin by FeedbackWP 20K+ · 4.7★ (159)
wp.org #5 1 too high 7 
MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435)
wp.org #7 ↓2 8 
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820)
wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too low 9 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8709)
wp.org #9 ↓1 10 
CartFlows – Funnel Builder & Checkout Plugin for WooCommerce 200K+ · 4.8★ (517)
wp.org #11 ↑1 1 too low 11 
Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445)
wp.org #12 ↑1 1 too low 12 
FunnelKit Automations – Email Marketing Automation and CRM for WordPress & WooCommerce 20K+ · 5.0★ (346)
wp.org #14 ↑1 2 too low 13 
Email Marketing for WooCommerce by Omnisend 40K+ · 4.9★ (169)
wp.org #13 ↑6 14 
User Submitted Posts – Enable Users to Submit Posts from the Front End 10K+ · 4.8★ (913)
wp.org #20 ↑2 6 too low 15 
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387)
wp.org #21 6 too low 16 
Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539)
wp.org #24 ↓1 8 too low 17 
Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270)
wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too low 18 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583)
wp.org #8 ↑10 10 too high 19 
Mailchimp for WooCommerce 200K+ · 4.0★ (726)
wp.org #17 ↓6 2 too high 20 
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408)
wp.org #22 ↓13 2 too low 21 
Pay For Post with WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.7★ (53)
wp.org #18 3 too high 22 
Purchase Orders for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.2★ (5) thin reviews
wp.org #16 ↓2 6 too high 23 
Shipping Live rates for Canada Post for WooCommerce 400+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #23 ↑1 24 
Purchase Redirect for WooCommerce 100+ · 3.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #15 ↑1 9 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.