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

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 “recall”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 5 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

WP URLs Shortener + Social icons [Official] shows at wp.org #16 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 10+ 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Cart Abandonment Recovery for WooCommerce – Recover Lost Sales with Automated Emails 300K+ · 4.8★ (625) wp.org #1 2 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #2 3 Product Customer List for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.9★ (75) wp.org #3 4 Seraphinite Accelerator 50K+ · 4.8★ (476) wp.org #4 5 ThirstyAffiliates – Affiliate Links, Link Branding, Link Tracking & Marketing Plugin 30K+ · 4.6★ (251) wp.org #5 6 Awesome Support – WordPress HelpDesk & Support Plugin 6K+ · 3.5★ (194) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Which Elementor Addon 400+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 Scratch & Win – Giveaways and Contests. Boost subscribers, traffic, repeat visits, referrals, sales and more 100+ · 4.7★ (30) wp.org #15 ↓2 7 too low 9 Product Expiry for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 SurveyX Builder – Survey, Poll, Quiz & Feedback Form 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 Seekmodo Search — · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #22 ↑1 11 too low 12 Booking System Trafft 400+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 1 too high 13 N Ni Order Filter For WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 5 too high 14 RecallLens – CPSC Product Recall Search — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 JAZ-X Product Recall Manager for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too high 16 Formester 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↑1 3 too high 17 Tab Recall — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 Site Updates Report 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓1 5 too low 19 Flitt payment gateway for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 Posoria – Point of Sale (POS) for WooCommerce 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↑1 1 too high 21 Dynamic Post – AI Content – White Paper – Peer Review – Tax & Accounting Sites 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too high 22 SAFFIRE AI Product Recommendations for WooCommerce 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 WPMelon Advanced Bulk Edit for WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too high 24 WP URLs Shortener + Social icons [Official] 10+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↑1 8 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.