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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “retirement saving”

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 “retirement saving”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 18 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

AC’s Retirement Nest Egg Calculator shows at wp.org #3 but places #10 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 80+ 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

Orbit Fox: Duplicate Page, Menu Icons, SVG Support, Cookie Notice, Custom Fonts & More places #4 on merit, 4.8★ from 317 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #5 4 too low 2 Simply Schedule Appointments 50K+ · 5.0★ (155) wp.org #6 4 too low 3 Leaflet Maps Marker (Google Maps, OpenStreetMap, Bing Maps) 9K+ · 4.6★ (244) wp.org #7 4 too low 4 Orbit Fox: Duplicate Page, Menu Icons, SVG Support, Cookie Notice, Custom Fonts & More 100K+ · 4.8★ (317) wp.org #19 15 too low 5 AC’s Retirement Age Calculator 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 AC’s Retirement Savings Calculator 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 5 too high 7 Rapls AI Chatbot – Self-Hosted RAG & MCP Server 90+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #16 ↓1 8 too low 9 S Seamless Donations is Sunset 2K+ · 4.1★ (70) wp.org #23 ↓1 14 too low 10 AC’s Retirement Nest Egg Calculator 80+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 7 too high 11 AC’s Savings Calculator 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 7 too high 12 Blockenberg — 645 Advanced Gutenberg Blocks, 683 Templates and AI Agent for WordPress Block Editor 1K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #9 3 too high 13 Smart Calculators Suite — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 5 too high 14 Bulk Export Import Images SEO Attributes 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 15 FinCalc Toolkit – Financial Calculators 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 5 too high 16 Ecreate Calculators – Loan, Mortgage, BMI and Business Calculators — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 Advisers Calculators — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 AC’s Loan Calculator 400+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #18 ↓1 19 Planafolio Finanzrechner – ETF-Sparplanrechner & Zinseszinsrechner — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓1 4 too high 20 Ozeki Database Backup for S3 — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too low 21 AC’s Mortgage Calculator 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too high 22 Tebaro – Currency Conversion for WooCommerce 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓1 23 reala11y – Accessibility Checker & Auto-Fix: WCAG 2.2 Scanner, AI Alt Text, ADA & EAA Audit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1 1 too low 24 AC’s Auto Loan Calculator 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓2 4 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.