wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “repeat delivery”

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 “repeat delivery”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

Clone / Duplicate Orders for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #15 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 1K+ 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

Cost Calculator Builder places #12 on merit, 4.5★ from 393 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #1 2

Post Views Counter 100K+ · 4.9★ (1238) wp.org #2 3

TrackShip for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.7★ (52) wp.org #3 ↓1 4

Email Subscribers & Newsletters by Icegram Express – Email Marketing, Post Notifications & WooCommerce Marekting Automation for WordPress 50K+ · 4.6★ (1170) wp.org #8 4 too low 5

OneSignal – Web Push Notifications 60K+ · 4.3★ (360) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too low 6

Autoship Cloud for WooCommerce Subscription Products 100+ · 4.6★ (37) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too high 7

Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (808) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too low 8

Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) thin reviews wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too high 9

WPCafe – Restaurant Menu, Online Food Ordering & Table Booking System 5K+ · 4.6★ (113) wp.org #9 10

Shipping Simulator for WooCommerce 6K+ · 5.0★ (40) wp.org #10 ↑7 11

AfterShip Tracking – All-In-One WooCommerce Order Tracking (Free plan available) 7K+ · 4.8★ (633) wp.org #19 ↑2 8 too low 12

Cost Calculator Builder 20K+ · 4.5★ (393) wp.org #22 ↑2 10 too low 13

QuickShipD – Estimated Delivery Date for WooCommerce 30+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #5 ↓1 8 too high 14

PiWeb Cancel order / Refund request for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.8★ (39) wp.org #13 ↑1 1 too high 15

SureContact – Newsletters, Email Marketing, Automation, Revenue Tracking & CRM 10K+ · 4.8★ (21) thin reviews wp.org #12 ↑1 3 too high 16

Deposits & Partial Payments for WooCommerce – Bayna 1K+ · 5.0★ (49) wp.org #23 7 too low 17

PushEngage – Web Push Notifications, WooCommerce Automation & Chat Widget 8K+ · 4.3★ (37) wp.org #16 ↑3 1 too high 18

FluentCart A New Era of eCommerce – Faster, Lighter, and Simpler 9K+ · 4.5★ (46) wp.org #18 19

Orderable – Restaurant & Food Ordering System 5K+ · 4.6★ (40) wp.org #21 ↑2 2 too low 20

Easy Optimizer – PageSpeed, Cache & Core Web Vitals (Unused CSS, Delay JS, Lazy Load) 1K+ · 4.6★ (18) thin reviews wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too high 21

Blacklist Manager – WooCommerce Anti-Fraud, Blacklist & Checkout Verification 2K+ · 3.6★ (14) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↑1 7 too high 22

Frenet Shipping Gateway for WooCommerce – Correios, Etiquetas e Rastreio 4K+ · 3.9★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↑2 2 too high 23

iZooto – Web Push Notifications 900+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #24 1 too low 24

Clone / Duplicate Orders for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #15 ↑3 9 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.