Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “regular price”

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 price”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Sale price as order discount for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #12 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 100+ 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

Side Cart Woocommerce | Woocommerce Cart places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 453 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 Variation Price Display Range for WooCommerce 9K+ · 5.0★ (43) wp.org #1 2 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 PW WooCommerce Bulk Edit 20K+ · 4.9★ (238) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820) wp.org #9 ↑3 5 too low 5 Bulk Price Update for Woocommerce 2K+ · 4.0★ (16) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 Wholesale Suite – B2B, Dynamic Pricing & WooCommerce Wholesale Prices 20K+ · 4.8★ (546) wp.org #13 ↓5 7 too low 7 ELEX WooCommerce Bulk Edit Products, Prices & Attributes (Basic) 4K+ · 3.7★ (25) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 Side Cart Woocommerce | Woocommerce Cart 70K+ · 4.9★ (453) wp.org #18 ↓5 10 too low 9 Show only lowest prices in variable products for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.8★ (28) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too high 10 Product Price History for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #5 5 too high 11 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #21 ↑1 10 too low 12 Bulky – Bulk Edit Products for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.6★ (53) wp.org #14 ↑1 2 too low 13 Discount Rules and Dynamic Pricing for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.7★ (248) wp.org #23 10 too low 14 Joinchat – Enhanced “click to chat” 700K+ · 4.7★ (189) wp.org #22 ↓4 8 too low 15 Omnibus — show the lowest price 10K+ · 4.1★ (51) wp.org #20 ↑1 5 too low 16 Price Update: Bulk Pricing Editor for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.0★ (10) wp.org #7 9 too high 17 Variation Price Display For WooCommerce 900+ · 3.8★ (10) wp.org #10 7 too high 18 MJDD Sidrena Cijena 700+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #15 ↑1 3 too high 19 RRP (MSRP) for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #17 ↑2 2 too high 20 Product Prices by User Roles for WooCommerce 1K+ · 3.4★ (14) wp.org #11 9 too high 21 Whols – Wholesale Prices and B2B Store Solution for WooCommerce 3K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #24 ↓1 3 too low 22 Sale price as order discount for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 ↑2 10 too high 23 Bulk Price Editor for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↑1 7 too high 24 WPC Price by User Role for WooCommerce 200+ · 2.5★ (2) wp.org #19 ↑1 5 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.