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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “question answer”

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 “question answer”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

Awesome FAQ – answer questions before customers ask shows at wp.org #3 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 20 places. Its 1K+ 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.

Buried gem

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 27821 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Contact Form 7 10M+ · 4.0★ (2186) wp.org #1 2 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #2 3 Quiz Maker by AYS 20K+ · 4.9★ (601) wp.org #4 ↑5 1 too low 4 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1668) wp.org #5 ↑2 1 too low 5 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #7 ↓2 2 too low 6 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #9 ↓1 3 too low 7 Maintenance 1M+ · 4.4★ (869) wp.org #6 ↑4 1 too high 8 Chatway Live Chat – AI Chatbot, Customer Support, FAQ & Helpdesk Customer Service & Chat Buttons 30K+ · 5.0★ (775) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too low 10 Loginizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1033) wp.org #11 ↑4 1 too low 11 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #23 12 too low 12 Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) – Quiz Maker & Survey Maker 40K+ · 4.7★ (1282) wp.org #22 10 too low 13 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #15 ↑2 2 too low 14 Tidio – Live Chat & AI Chatbots 70K+ · 4.8★ (395) wp.org #17 ↑1 3 too low 15 HD Quiz 6K+ · 4.9★ (145) wp.org #18 ↑1 3 too low 16 WP Rollback – Rollback Plugins and Themes 200K+ · 4.9★ (215) wp.org #21 ↓1 5 too low 17 Redis Object Cache 500K+ · 4.5★ (179) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 Quiz Cat – WordPress Quiz Plugin 4K+ · 4.7★ (35) wp.org #19 ↑2 1 too low 19 Product Questions & Answers for WooCommerce 400+ · 4.8★ (6) wp.org #8 ↓2 11 too high 20 CM Answers – Discussion Forum Plugin for WordPress Q&A 300+ · 3.8★ (86) wp.org #14 ↓1 6 too high 21 WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments 800K+ · 3.4★ (177) wp.org #13 ↑1 8 too high 22 AxiaChat AI – Free AI Chatbot (Answers Customers Automatically) 500+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #20 ↑2 2 too high 23 Awesome FAQ – answer questions before customers ask 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 20 too high 24 WPSSO Schema FAQ Page Manager 90+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #24

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.