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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “publish button”

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 “publish button”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 6 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

Publish Post Email Notification shows at wp.org #8 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #5 on merit, 4.8★ from 27821 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP LinkedIn Auto Publish 8K+ · 4.8★ (106) wp.org #1 2 AddToAny Share Buttons 300K+ · 4.7★ (1114) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 Buttonizer – Floating Menus, Sticky Buttons, & Popup Builder 70K+ · 4.5★ (151) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #5 ↑3 1 too low 5 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #15 10 too low 6 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #13 7 too low 7 WP ULike – Like Buttons, Voting & Engagement Analytics 60K+ · 4.8★ (283) wp.org #11 ↓5 4 too low 8 Buttonizer – Live Chat, AI Chatbot, Call, Chat, Contact Button 50K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #4 ↑1 4 too high 9 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (199) wp.org #16 ↓1 7 too low 10 Social Media Auto Poster – Schedule & Publish to Buffer 7K+ · 4.5★ (125) wp.org #12 ↓2 2 too low 11 Buttonizer – Social Media Share Buttons, Social Icons, & Social Feeds 40K+ · 4.8★ (396) wp.org #18 ↓2 7 too low 12 WebToffee EU Order Withdrawal Button for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #7 5 too high 13 Publish to Schedule 3K+ · 4.3★ (23) wp.org #9 4 too high 14 Pre-Publish Checklist 1K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #14 ↓2 15 Custom Order Status Manager for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.7★ (117) wp.org #23 ↓4 8 too low 16 EU Order Withdrawal Button for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.6★ (7) wp.org #6 ↓3 10 too high 17 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #20 ↑4 3 too low 18 Share Buttons & AI-powered Summaries 1K+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #24 ↓3 6 too low 19 Publish Post Email Notification 500+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 11 too high 20 Zeffy Donate Button 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #10 ↑1 10 too high 21 PayPal Payment Buttons 500+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 22 Volteruno – AI Blog Auto-Publish 70+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #22 ↓2 23 Sticky Preview and Publish Buttons by FibroJedi 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↓2 4 too high 24 Publish Confirm Message 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓3 7 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.