Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “primary category”

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 “primary category”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 5 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

Primary Addon for Elementor shows at wp.org #8 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 6K+ 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

Translate WordPress with GTranslate places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 4962 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.7★ (1071) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Permalink Manager Lite 100K+ · 4.8★ (176) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Easy Primary Category 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 WPB Accordion Menu – Collapsible Vertical Sidebar Responsive Mobile Menu – WooCommerce Category Accordion 10K+ · 4.4★ (54) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Content Views – Post Grid & Filter (Shortcode, Blocks, Elementor Widgets) 100K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too low 8 The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) wp.org #12 ↑3 4 too low 9 Permalink Manager for WooCommerce 8K+ · 4.9★ (26) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 Premmerce Permalink Manager for WooCommerce 40K+ · 3.9★ (53) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 Booking for Appointments and Events Calendar – Amelia 90K+ · 4.6★ (793) wp.org #21 ↓2 10 too low 12 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #24 ↓3 12 too low 13 Cookie Compliance for WordPress – Cookie Consent, GDPR & CCPA 800K+ · 4.8★ (3026) wp.org #23 ↓3 10 too low 14 Ajax Search Lite – Live Search & Filter 70K+ · 4.8★ (266) wp.org #19 ↓1 5 too low 15 GAinWP Google Analytics Integration for WP 7K+ · 4.8★ (126) wp.org #15 16 Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (504) wp.org #22 ↓6 6 too low 17 Options for Twenty Twenty-One 6K+ · 4.9★ (64) wp.org #14 ↓2 3 too high 18 Collapsing Categories 4K+ · 4.1★ (57) wp.org #9 9 too high 19 Enable Abilities for MCP 5K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #13 ↓2 6 too high 20 WPSSO Schema Breadcrumbs Markup 300+ · 4.9★ (19) wp.org #17 ↓4 3 too high 21 Primary Addon for Elementor 6K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 13 too high 22 Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts 5K+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 WP Consent API 200K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 ↓2 7 too high 24 RSS Control 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 6 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.