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

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 “river”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 4 plugins are 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

Necessary Blocks – Page Builder, Gutenberg Blocks & Patterns shows at wp.org #9 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 10+ 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #1 2 Shipping Zones by Drawing for WooCommerce 500+ · 4.1★ (24) wp.org #2 3 Location Pack for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Interactive Divisional Maps Bangladesh 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too high 5 USGS Steam Flow Data 100+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #13 ↓1 8 too low 6 R River Embed for FeedLand — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too high 7 Privacy & Consent Assistant 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too high 8 Worldtides Widget 100+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too low 9 U USGS River Data 10+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #19 ↓2 10 too low 10 AI Generator 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 ↓1 3 too high 11 TS Hotspot Quiz — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too high 12 APIFreaks — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too high 13 sigora Area Map — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too high 14 VEFmultiBooking — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 15 PD17 Map — OpenStreetMap Vector Maps — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓2 1 too low 16 Necessary Blocks – Page Builder, Gutenberg Blocks & Patterns 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↓1 7 too high 17 Janey AI — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓2 1 too low 18 SmartBroker 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓2 2 too low 19 F FlickrFlow — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓2 2 too low 20 Transiz Routes – Transport and Freight 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓2 3 too high 21 U USGS River Conditions 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓2 1 too low 22 Global Seller Services for WooCommerce 10+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓2 7 too high 23 H Hello Serenity 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓2 1 too low 24 G GhostWriter 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓2 1 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.