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

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 “pride”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 3 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

Pride Bar shows at wp.org #6 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 20+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

MaxGalleria places #10 on merit, 4.4★ from 65 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 Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (1511) wp.org #4 3 too low 2 DearFlip – PDF Flipbook, 3D Flipbook, PDF embed, PDF viewer 200K+ · 4.9★ (194) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Custom Fonts – Host Your Fonts Locally 400K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Feeds for YouTube (YouTube video, channel, and gallery plugin) 100K+ · 4.8★ (205) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 Pride Codes 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #1 4 too high 6 MyRewards 2K+ · 4.7★ (58) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Confetti – Celebration Effects for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (49) wp.org #7 8 picu – Online Photo Proofing Gallery 2K+ · 4.7★ (55) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too low 9 WC Vendors – WooCommerce Multivendor, WooCommerce Marketplace, Product Vendors 3K+ · 4.5★ (188) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 MaxGalleria 1K+ · 4.4★ (65) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 Transferito: WP Migration 300+ · 4.5★ (16) wp.org #14 ↑1 3 too low 12 Social Snap — Social Share Buttons & Click to Tweet 10K+ · 4.2★ (58) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too low 13 Flat Rate Shipping Method for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.2★ (76) wp.org #17 4 too low 14 SQL Buddy – Database Management Made Easy 5K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 One to one user Chat by WPGuppy 500+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #10 5 too high 16 Photo Contest | Competition | Video Contest 200+ · 4.5★ (19) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 Pride Bar 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 ↓1 11 too high 18 WP Forms Signature Contract Add-On 800+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 Scanpay for WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 11 too high 20 Environment & Debug Bar 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↓1 7 too high 21 Xpro Addons For Beaver Builder – Lite 700+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Electronic Signature Add-on for Fluent Forms 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 23 HUMN-1 AI Website Scanner & Human Certification by Winston AI 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 Awin Data Feed 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 3 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.