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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “project collaboration”

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 “project collaboration”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Taskbuilder – Project Management & Task Management Tool With Kanban Board shows at wp.org #9 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 700+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Weight Based Shipping Table Rate for WooCommerce – Flexible Shipping places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 706 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Project Manager – AI Powered Project Management, Task Management, Kanban Board & Time Tracker 5K+ · 3.8★ (187) wp.org #1 2 Zephyr Project Manager 1K+ · 4.8★ (98) wp.org #2 3 Translate WordPress with Weglot 2.0 – Multilingual AI Translation 50K+ · 4.8★ (1940) wp.org #8 5 too low 4 FluentBoards – Project Management, Task Management, Goal Tracking, Kanban Board, and, Team Collaboration 6K+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 Atarim – AI Agency for WordPress: Edit Pages, Fix Code, Update Plugins, SEO & Client Feedback 1K+ · 4.9★ (126) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 Weight Based Shipping Table Rate for WooCommerce – Flexible Shipping 100K+ · 4.9★ (706) wp.org #19 ↑1 10 too low 10 Molongui Authorship – Author Boxes, Guest Authors & Co-Authors for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (158) wp.org #15 ↓2 5 too low 11 Gutenberg 400K+ · 2.1★ (3888) wp.org #7 4 too high 12 weDocs: AI Powered Knowledge Base, Docs, Documentation, Wiki & AI Chatbot 5K+ · 4.6★ (69) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 Logo Slider – Logo Showcase, Logo Carousel, Logo Gallery and Client Logo Presentation 30K+ · 4.7★ (252) wp.org #17 4 too low 14 LazyTasks – Project & Task Management with Collaboration, Kanban and Gantt Chart 90+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #6 ↓1 8 too high 15 Shipping Live Rates for USPS for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.7★ (30) wp.org #14 ↑4 1 too high 16 Kirki – Freeform Page Builder, Website Builder & Customizer 400K+ · 4.5★ (81) wp.org #18 ↓4 2 too low 17 Automatically Hierarchic Categories in Menu 2K+ · 4.6★ (13) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 Cart Weight for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #13 ↑2 5 too high 19 Taskbuilder – Project Management & Task Management Tool With Kanban Board 700+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #9 10 too high 20 Zoho Flow – No-Code Workflow Automation 5K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 Intranet & Private Site – All-In-One Intranet 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too high 22 WP Document Revisions 2K+ · 3.7★ (23) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 too low 23 BugHerd 3K+ · 3.5★ (4) wp.org #24 ↓1 1 too low 24 SureFeedback Cloud 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓2 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.