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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “role playing”

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 “role playing”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

SaveTo Wishlist Lite – WooCommerce Wishlist shows at wp.org #9 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 11 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

All-in-One Video Gallery – Video Player & Galleries for YouTube, Vimeo & Self-Hosted Videos places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 136 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 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots 10K+ · 4.8★ (142) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin by NiteoThemes 200K+ · 4.7★ (326) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Lean Player – Video and Audio Player with Playlist for WordPress, Elementor and Gutenberg 2K+ · 4.7★ (6) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Announcer – Sticky Message Banner & Notification Bar 10K+ · 4.8★ (40) wp.org #5 6 MP3 Audio Player – Music Player, Podcast Player & Radio by Sonaar 20K+ · 4.8★ (302) wp.org #6 7 LifterLMS – WP LMS for eLearning, Online Courses, & Quizzes 10K+ · 4.8★ (393) wp.org #11 ↑1 4 too low 8 FireBox – WooCommerce Popup Builder, Exit Intent Popup, Email Optin & Cart Abandonment 6K+ · 4.8★ (76) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too high 9 Embed Plus for YouTube Gallery, Livestream and Lazy Loading with Facades 100K+ · 4.6★ (572) wp.org #15 ↑2 6 too low 10 Open User Map – Interactive Leaflet Maps 10K+ · 5.0★ (70) wp.org #14 ↑1 4 too low 11 CP Media Player – Audio Player and Video Player 3K+ · 4.4★ (46) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too high 12 All-in-One Video Gallery – Video Player & Galleries for YouTube, Vimeo & Self-Hosted Videos 20K+ · 4.8★ (136) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 Ultimate Blocks – 25+ Gutenberg Blocks for Block Editor 50K+ · 4.9★ (729) wp.org #21 8 too low 14 HTML5 Audio Player – The Ultimate No-Code Podcast, MP3 & Audio Player 10K+ · 4.6★ (169) wp.org #16 2 too low 15 Popups for WooCommerce: Add to Cart, Checkout & More 2K+ · 4.8★ (12) wp.org #8 ↑1 7 too high 16 FV Flowplayer Video Player 10K+ · 4.4★ (90) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too high 17 AnWP Football Leagues 700+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #13 ↑1 4 too high 18 Wise Chat 4K+ · 4.4★ (105) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 Superb Addons: Blocks, Patterns, Pre-built Pages, Sliders, Popups, Free Forms, Animations & More 80K+ · 4.9★ (23) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 SaveTo Wishlist Lite – WooCommerce Wishlist 500+ · 4.2★ (11) wp.org #9 ↑1 11 too high 21 Radio Station by netmix® – Manage and play your Show Schedule in WordPress! 1K+ · 4.6★ (30) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too high 22 Library Viewer 400+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 SmartVideo – Video Player and CDN 1K+ · 4.1★ (19) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 Premium Packages – Sell Digital Products Securely 2K+ · 3.8★ (4) wp.org #23 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.