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

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 “renderer”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

PDF Generator for Posts & Pages – Export Any Post Type to PDF shows at wp.org #10 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 90+ 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 Quill Forms | Conversational Multi Step Forms, Surveys & quizzes 3K+ · 4.8★ (44) wp.org #5 ↑2 4 too low 2 AM LottiePlayer 700+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #8 ↓4 5 too low 4 Markdown Renderer for GitHub 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Custom Site Logo 1K+ · 4.7★ (9) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too low 6 Threepress 100+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #6 ↑2 7 System Dashboard 900+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 Blogroll Links Renderer 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #2 6 too high 9 ThreeWP 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 too high 10 MyStyle Custom Product Designer 50+ · 3.9★ (13) wp.org #13 3 too low 11 S Slick Google Map 50+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #18 ↓1 7 too low 12 PressPrimer Certificate – Certificate Designer & Course Certification for Your LMS 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too low 13 Stunning Related for Posts, Products, Pages and widgets 60+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #21 ↓2 8 too low 14 AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↑1 5 too high 15 Iyo Block Code Renderer for Scratch — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓1 16 Wbcom Designs – BuddyPress Post from Anywhere 80+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 PMT PostGrid for block editor with elementor support 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↑8 3 too high 18 Domain Search for WHMCS 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓1 1 too high 19 iWEBAPP Review Widget for Google Reviews 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓3 5 too low 20 SentraIP 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↑1 1 too high 21 SEO Connector for Ghost.blog 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓2 1 too high 22 Appointment Booking Calendar & Scheduling – Zoe Booking 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 23 ReceiptKit for WooCommerce — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 24 PDF Generator for Posts & Pages – Export Any Post Type to PDF 90+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↓1 14 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.