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

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 switcher”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Logo Switcher Divi shows at wp.org #7 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 200+ 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

Weight Based Shipping Table Rate for WooCommerce – Flexible Shipping places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 706 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 FOX – Currency Switcher Professional for WooCommerce 50K+ · 4.4★ (250) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Post Type Switcher 200K+ · 4.8★ (255) wp.org #3 4 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5 YayCurrency – WooCommerce Multi-Currency Switcher 7K+ · 4.8★ (114) wp.org #5 ↑2 6 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #14 ↑2 8 too low 7 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #13 6 too low 8 Weight Based Shipping Table Rate for WooCommerce – Flexible Shipping 100K+ · 4.9★ (706) wp.org #17 ↓2 9 too low 9 Wholesale Suite – B2B, Dynamic Pricing & WooCommerce Wholesale Prices 20K+ · 4.8★ (546) wp.org #12 ↓2 3 too low 10 Multilanguage by BestWebSoft – WordPress Translation Plugin and Language Switcher 3K+ · 3.8★ (92) wp.org #11 1 too low 11 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #16 ↓4 5 too low 12 View Admin As 9K+ · 4.9★ (49) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 Tiered Pricing Table for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.7★ (104) wp.org #15 ↓1 2 too low 14 WP Coder – Insert & Manage Code Snippets 10K+ · 4.9★ (32) wp.org #21 ↑1 7 too low 15 HUSKY – Products Filter for WooCommerce Professional. MCP is onboard 80K+ · 4.6★ (337) wp.org #24 ↓1 9 too low 16 Language Switcher for Transposh 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #8 ↓2 8 too high 17 User Role Switcher 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 13 too high 18 Teydea Login Customizer – Custom Login Page, Branding & Styling 10K+ · 4.8★ (14) wp.org #23 ↓2 5 too low 19 Nexter Extension – Security, Performance, Code Snippets & Site Toolkit 10K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Classic Editor and Classic Widgets 20K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 Logo Switcher Divi 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 ↑10 14 too high 22 BytNexo User Switcher 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↓1 12 too high 23 Multi Currency Switcher for WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↓1 14 too high 24 Universally – AI Translation & Multilingual SEO: Translate Your Site into 110+ Languages 30K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 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.