wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “randomness”
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 “randomness”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 18 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
KHALAF Login Access Guard shows at wp.org #4 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its — 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
Image Alt Text places #5 on merit, 4.9★ from 57 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
RevivePress – Keep your Old Content Evergreen 4K+ · 4.6★ (116) stale but ranked
wp.org #1 2 
Advanced Google reCAPTCHA 200K+ · 4.8★ (430)
wp.org #9 7 too low 3 
Email Address Encoder 100K+ · 4.2★ (160)
wp.org #12 9 too low 4 
Backuply – Backup, Restore, Migrate and Clone 600K+ · 4.5★ (135)
wp.org #13 ↑1 9 too low 5 Image Alt Text 10K+ · 4.9★ (57)
wp.org #20 ↓2 15 too low 6 
Debug Log Manager – Conveniently Monitor and Inspect Errors 10K+ · 5.0★ (25)
wp.org #17 11 too low 7 
Disable Media Pages 10K+ · 5.0★ (17) thin reviews
wp.org #16 9 too low 8 
Section Separator Block – Modern Waves, Icons, Pills & Emoji Stacks 100+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviewslow rating, top placement
wp.org #2 6 too high 9 
Image Aspect Ratio Crop Field for Advanced Custom Fields 20K+ · 4.8★ (26)
wp.org #22 13 too low 10 
Magic Login – Magic Link & Passwordless Authentication for WordPress – Login Without Password 3K+ · 4.8★ (26)
wp.org #21 11 too low 11 
Multibanco, MB WAY, Credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Payshop, and PIX (ifthenpay) for WooCommerce 8K+ · 5.0★ (21) thin reviews
wp.org #23 12 too low 12 
Republish Old Posts 2K+ · 4.3★ (12) thin reviews
wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too low 13 
Page for Random Banners 10+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviewslow rating, top placement
wp.org #3 10 too high 14 
DoLogin Security 7K+ · 4.5★ (13) thin reviews
wp.org #19 ↑1 5 too low 15 
Pantheon Migrations 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #18 ↑1 3 too low 16 KHALAF Login Access Guard — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviewslow rating, top placement
wp.org #4 12 too high 17 
AI Provider for MiniMax – AI Text & Image Generation Connector 20+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviewslow rating, top placement
wp.org #5 12 too high 18 
AI Provider for OpenCode Zen – Multi-Model LLM Connector 20+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews
wp.org #6 12 too high 19 
GP Translate with OpenAI 10+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews
wp.org #7 12 too high 20 
Animated Raffle Winner — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews
wp.org #8 12 too high 21 
BarkingLlama Roulette — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews
wp.org #10 11 too high 22 
ArgentWolf Email Verification — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews
wp.org #11 11 too high 23 
FooGallery Migrate 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #24 1 too low 24 A AI Bot for bbPress — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews
wp.org #15 9 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.