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

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 “realm”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 3 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

InvoiceBoo – Invoices for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #7 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 10+ 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 EleSpare – News, Magazine and Blog Addons for Elementor 10K+ · 4.9★ (44) wp.org #1 2 Verge3D Publishing and E-Commerce 400+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #2 3 BrainyPress 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #3 4 ExpressTechSoftwares Addon for MemberPress and Discord 200+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Guild Raid Progression for WoW and Raider IO 10+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #5 6 Discourage Search Engines – Dashboard notification 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 DefiniteSEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings 30+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 AI Image Generator – Easy image creation with AI 100+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 Next Active Directory Integration 2K+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #24 ↓1 15 too low 10 Barion Payment Gateway for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #20 10 too low 11 Snippet Vault 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 3 too high 12 SpectroCoin Payment Extension for WooCommerce 10+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #9 3 too high 13 AI Chatbot Widget by FindWise – Live Chat with ChatGPT — · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 Fonts Typo | Fonts Typography 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 3 too low 15 InvoiceBoo – Invoices for WooCommerce 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 8 too high 16 Aths Guild Progress for WoW — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 Easy Basic Authentication – Add basic auth to site or admin area 800+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 Guild Roster Importer for WoW — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 5 too high 19 Yandex Maps for Gutenberg 300+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 WP Composer – The Easiest Page Builder 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 WebEquipe Webhook Manager — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 3 too high 22 WalkTheWeb 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 AwareID – Biometric Identity Authentication 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 7 too high 24 Code Meta Opengraph Tag Generator 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 2 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.