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

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 handoff”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Ellie’s Checklist shows at wp.org #5 but places #9 on merit, a gap of 4 places. Its 60+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Shipping Live Rates for USPS for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.7★ (30) wp.org #1 ↑2 2 Weight Based Shipping Table Rate for WooCommerce – Flexible Shipping 100K+ · 4.9★ (706) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Kirki – Freeform Page Builder, Website Builder & Customizer 400K+ · 4.5★ (81) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too high 4 Shipping Live Rates for FedEx for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.4★ (27) wp.org #4 5 AI Chat App – Live Agent Handover, Help Docs, Email, Call Button, Fast Support 100+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too low 6 Scry Search: Meilisearch for WordPress 20+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #9 ↓1 3 too low 7 NXT Cloud Chat – CRM, Inbox & OTP Login 30+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #20 ↑1 13 too low 8 Treder Client Content Handoff — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 Ellie’s Checklist 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 4 too high 10 Magic Copy for Elementor – Cross Domain Copy Paste & Page Duplicator 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 ↑1 1 too low 11 SureFeedback Cloud 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 4 too high 12 Arrow Publisher for Business Pages 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 13 Wow Sliders Addons for Elementor 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 3 too high 14 Corsen Context 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↑4 1 too high 15 Noshi-Kanamer – WordPress Pre-Launch Checklist & Client Handoff Toolkit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓1 1 too high 16 Aivastark – AI Chatbot & Live Chat for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 17 Firetap Knowledge Panel Schema 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓2 18 3D/AR/VR Model Viewer for WooCommerce 10+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too high 19 Kelpiks FormProof 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓2 1 too high 20 NPC Manual Generator for Advanced Custom Fields 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too high 21 Specflux Marketing Analytics Chat 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓1 22 ScopeQuote Cost Calculator — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓3 23 Clanker Support — AI Chat & Customer Support Widget — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1 1 too low 24 DTFBuild Gang Sheet Builder 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓1 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.