Plugin Pulse
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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “regular expression”

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 “regular expression”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20.

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

JSM Show User Metadata shows at wp.org #10 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 3K+ 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

Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) places #6 on merit, 5.0★ from 422 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Search Regex 100K+ · 4.7★ (101) wp.org #1 2 Antispam Bee 700K+ · 4.8★ (226) wp.org #2 3 Redirection 2M+ · 4.4★ (703) wp.org #3 4 301 Redirects – Redirect Manager 300K+ · 4.7★ (578) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 Safe Redirect Manager 40K+ · 4.7★ (78) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (422) wp.org #11 ↑5 5 too low 7 PW WooCommerce Bulk Edit 20K+ · 4.9★ (238) wp.org #7 8 Asset CleanUp: Page Speed Booster 100K+ · 4.9★ (1564) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too low 9 CSS & JavaScript Toolbox 10K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #9 10 Gravity Forms Zero Spam 100K+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 JSM Show Post Metadata 10K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #8 3 too high 12 404 Solution 10K+ · 4.9★ (44) wp.org #15 3 too low 13 SEO Redirection Plugin – 301 Redirect Manager 10K+ · 4.3★ (73) wp.org #14 ↓1 1 too low 14 Extra Product Options For WooCommerce | Custom Product Addons and Fields 30K+ · 4.9★ (218) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1321) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 WPMasterToolKit (WPMTK) – All in one plugin 5K+ · 5.0★ (28) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 All In One Redirection 1K+ · 4.4★ (11) wp.org #21 ↓1 4 too low 18 ELEX WooCommerce Bulk Edit Products, Prices & Attributes (Basic) 4K+ · 3.7★ (25) wp.org #19 ↑4 1 too low 19 JSM Show User Metadata 3K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 9 too high 20 Real Time Validation For Gravity Forms 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 ↓1 8 too high 21 UserAgent Themes Switcher 50+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22 Interlinks Manager – Internal Links Optimizer 7K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #24 ↓3 2 too low 23 JSM Show Order Metadata for WooCommerce HPOS 700+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 ↓2 7 too high 24 Debug Log Viewer 1K+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #17 7 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.