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

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 “recipe”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Scrumptious – Recipe Cards shows at wp.org #9 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 400+ 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.

Buried gem

Disable Gutenberg places #8 on merit, 5.0★ from 735 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 WP Recipe Maker 50K+ · 5.0★ (356) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Recipe Card Blocks Lite 10K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too high 4 Cooked – Recipe Management 3K+ · 3.9★ (90) wp.org #4 5 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #11 ↓1 6 too low 6 WP Delicious – Recipe Plugin for Food Bloggers (formerly Delicious Recipes) 4K+ · 4.9★ (71) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Recipe Cards For Your Food Blog from Zip Recipes 1K+ · 4.8★ (95) wp.org #7 8 Disable Gutenberg 500K+ · 5.0★ (735) wp.org #18 ↓1 10 too low 9 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #13 ↑3 4 too low 10 Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP 100K+ · 4.5★ (252) wp.org #12 ↓3 2 too low 11 Weight Based Shipping for WooCommerce 50K+ · 4.6★ (83) wp.org #15 ↓2 4 too low 12 Uncanny Automator – AI + Automation for WordPress | AI Agent, AI Page Builder, Free AI Usage Included 40K+ · 4.9★ (157) wp.org #19 ↓5 7 too low 13 Secure Custom Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (69) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too low 14 Create 6K+ · 4.3★ (25) wp.org #10 ↑1 4 too high 15 Schema – All In One Schema Rich Snippets 30K+ · 4.0★ (162) wp.org #22 ↓2 7 too low 16 LitCommerce: Sell on eBay, Etsy, Amazon, TikTok Shop, Walmart & more from WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (284) wp.org #24 ↓3 8 too low 17 Noptin – Newsletter, New Post Notifications & Email Automation 10K+ · 4.5★ (120) wp.org #17 18 Co-Authors Plus 20K+ · 3.5★ (77) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 V Visual Recipe Index 300+ · 4.4★ (10) wp.org #14 ↓2 5 too high 20 Tasty Recipes Lite – WordPress Recipe Card Plugin with Built-In Recipe Schema 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 14 too high 21 Card Elements for Elementor 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22 Chicory Shoppable Recipes 300+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #8 14 too high 23 Spillt Recipe Plugin 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 ↓3 2 too high 24 Scrumptious – Recipe Cards 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 15 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.