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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “raw html”

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 “raw html”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

HTML Page Publisher shows at wp.org #5 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Email Subscribers & Newsletters by Icegram Express – Email Marketing, Post Notifications & WooCommerce Marekting Automation for WordPress places #8 on merit, 4.6★ from 1170 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 HTML Forms – Simple WordPress Forms Plugin 10K+ · 4.9★ (57) wp.org #1 2 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #3 ↑5 1 too low 3 R Raw HTML 10K+ · 4.3★ (33) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #9 ↑1 5 too low 5 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too low 6 Redux Framework 900K+ · 4.4★ (273) wp.org #7 ↓2 1 too low 7 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #16 9 too low 8 Email Subscribers & Newsletters by Icegram Express – Email Marketing, Post Notifications & WooCommerce Marekting Automation for WordPress 50K+ · 4.6★ (1170) wp.org #18 10 too low 9 Noptin – Newsletter, New Post Notifications & Email Automation 10K+ · 4.5★ (120) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 Redis Object Cache 500K+ · 4.5★ (179) wp.org #13 ↓4 3 too low 11 ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117) wp.org #15 ↑3 4 too low 12 Bold Page Builder 40K+ · 3.6★ (66) wp.org #14 ↓3 2 too low 13 AI to Elementor — HTML Importer for Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #4 ↓1 9 too high 14 Smart COD for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.6★ (52) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 Seraphinite Post .DOCX Source 800+ · 4.6★ (45) wp.org #21 ↑3 6 too low 16 R Raw HTML Snippets 2K+ · 4.7★ (11) wp.org #10 ↓4 6 too high 17 Jamie's Visual HTML Editor 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #6 ↓2 11 too high 18 Kansleri Cookie Consent 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #12 ↑1 6 too high 19 HTML Page Publisher 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 ↑7 14 too high 20 French Typo 200+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #19 ↓4 1 too high 21 Init Embed Posts – Stylish, Fast, Portable 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too high 22 B Basic URL ShortCodes 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↓3 1 too low 23 Plaintext for the Newsletter plugin 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓3 1 too low 24 Substack Importer 1K+ · 2.8★ (4) wp.org #20 ↓3 4 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.