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

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 “preferences”, we agree with wp.org 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 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

Cookiez – GDPR & CCPA Cookie Banner & Consent Manager shows at wp.org #11 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 50K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

FluentCRM – Email Newsletter, Automation, Email Marketing, Email Campaigns, Optins, Leads, and CRM Solution places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 250 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #1 2 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #2 3 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #3 4 CookieYes – Cookie Banner for Cookie Consent (Easy to setup GDPR/CCPA Compliant Cookie Notice) 1M+ · 4.8★ (3236) wp.org #4 ↓3 5 Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups 20K+ · 4.9★ (701) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (758) wp.org #7 ↑6 8 FluentCRM – Email Newsletter, Automation, Email Marketing, Email Campaigns, Optins, Leads, and CRM Solution 80K+ · 4.8★ (250) wp.org #16 8 too low 9 Preferred Languages 3K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #8 ↓3 1 too high 10 Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #14 ↓3 3 too low 12 Resizable Sidebar for the Gutenberg Block Editor 3K+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #5 ↓1 7 too high 13 SureCookie – GDPR Cookie Consent Banner, Cookie Scanner & Script Blocking 70K+ · 4.9★ (21) wp.org #10 ↓2 3 too high 14 Dark Mode for WP Dashboard 3K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #13 ↓7 1 too high 15 Product Filter for WooCommerce by WBW 50K+ · 4.8★ (325) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 WPConsent – Cookie Banner & Cookie Consent for Privacy Compliance (GDPR / CCPA / EU Compliance Cookie Notice) 200K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #22 ↓4 6 too low 17 Pressidium Cookie Consent 10K+ · 4.7★ (40) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 tarteaucitron.io – Cookie Banner & GDPR Consent Management 10K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #15 ↓3 3 too high 19 Magazine Blocks – Blog Designer, Magazine & Newspaper Website Builder, Page Builder with Posts Blocks, Post Grid 6K+ · 4.9★ (11) wp.org #20 ↓5 1 too low 20 Kansleri Cookie Consent 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #17 3 too high 21 Cookiez – GDPR & CCPA Cookie Banner & Consent Manager 50K+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #11 ↓1 10 too high 22 Lightweight Cookie Notice – Cookie Banner for Cookie Consent 5K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 ↓5 1 too high 23 SeeMax Resizable Editor Sidebar 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↓5 4 too high 24 FGX Ad — Cookie preferences 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 1 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.