Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “problem solving”

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 “problem solving”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 2 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

FDP Debug shows at wp.org #9 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 10+ 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

CWILL (Formerly ParcelPanel) – Shipment Tracking, Tracking & Order Tracking for WooCommerce places #3 on merit, 4.9★ from 538 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Freesoul Deactivate Plugins – Disable plugins on individual WordPress pages 8K+ · 4.8★ (104) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Split Test For Elementor 3K+ · 4.4★ (24) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 CWILL (Formerly ParcelPanel) – Shipment Tracking, Tracking & Order Tracking for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.9★ (538) wp.org #11 8 too low 4 Plugin Detective – Troubleshooting Conflicts 5K+ · 4.0★ (49) wp.org #4 5 External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window 90K+ · 4.3★ (247) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Intagrate Lite 4K+ · 4.1★ (27) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Customer Email Verification for WooCommerce 8K+ · 4.8★ (47) wp.org #13 5 too low 9 Page Detector – Check the template file of the current page 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 8 too high 10 WidgetKit for Elementor – Lightweight Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 7K+ · 4.5★ (35) wp.org #14 4 too low 11 Anti-Spam Protection – No API Key, GDPR Friendly 1K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #12 1 too low 12 Missed Schedule Post Publisher 6K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #5 7 too high 13 All-in-One Sticky Anything – Click to Call, Fixed Widget, Sticky Header, Menu & Sidebar 1K+ · 4.9★ (15) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 MeetingHub – Appointment Booking & Meeting Scheduling for Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, Jitsi 400+ · 4.8★ (13) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 Really Simple Featured Video for Posts, Pages & WooCommerce Products 4K+ · 4.0★ (34) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 Lead Form Data Collection to CRM 400+ · 4.0★ (46) wp.org #16 17 Hyper PWA – Bringing Modern Progressive Web App Experiences 400+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 Personal Dictionary – Vocabulary Games, Memory Games 60+ · 4.8★ (8) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Patternly – Gutenberg Starter Templates, Patterns, WordPress Landing Pages & Sites 60+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 2 too high 20 FDP Debug 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 11 too high 21 Advanced Columns Block: Layout builder 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 11 too high 22 Animated Number Counters 2K+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Kata Plus – Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Extensions and Templates 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 BugTrace – Debug Log Tool 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 2 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.