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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “react”

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 “react”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

SimplyBook.me – Booking and reservations calendar shows at wp.org #8 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 30K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 1.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 1267 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 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #1 2 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Category AJAX Filter – Posts, Custom Post Types & Product Filter 6K+ · 4.9★ (158) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too low 4 WPGraphQL 30K+ · 4.9★ (48) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 ReactPress 2K+ · 4.4★ (18) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #9 ↑4 3 too low 7 Notibar – Notification Bar for WordPress 8K+ · 4.8★ (71) wp.org #7 ↓2 8 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #10 ↓3 2 too low 9 Custom Fonts – Host Your Fonts Locally 400K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #6 ↓2 3 too high 10 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #23 ↓1 13 too low 11 Accordions 20K+ · 4.5★ (90) wp.org #11 ↓1 12 LearnPress – WordPress LMS Plugin for Create and Sell Online Courses 70K+ · 4.3★ (597) wp.org #14 ↓3 2 too low 13 Colibri Page Builder 80K+ · 4.4★ (80) wp.org #15 ↓6 2 too low 14 Real Media Library: Media Library Folder & File Manager 100K+ · 4.8★ (297) wp.org #20 ↓12 6 too low 15 xSpeed Cache: AI-Powered Performance Hub with MCP, Caching & CDN 10K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #12 ↑4 3 too high 16 EmbedPress 100K+ · 4.8★ (307) wp.org #21 5 too low 17 Iptanus File Upload 10K+ · 4.4★ (117) wp.org #22 ↑1 5 too low 18 SysBasics Customize My Account for WooCommerce – Live My Account Customizer 7K+ · 4.2★ (33) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too high 19 Remoji – Post/Comment Reaction and Enhancement 300+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too high 20 Reactions – Emoji Reactions for Posts 10+ · 3.9★ (8) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 Customify 10K+ · 3.8★ (9) wp.org #24 ↓6 3 too low 22 Coming Soon Maintenance Mode 6K+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #17 ↓3 5 too high 23 BeyondSEO – AI SEO to Improve Rankings, Listings & Online Visibility 20K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #19 ↓2 4 too high 24 SimplyBook.me – Booking and reservations calendar 30K+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #8 16 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.