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

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 “routine”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 2 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

Teydea Password Reset – Force Password Reset & Expiration shows at wp.org #8 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

SupportCandy – AI Customer Support Ticket System & Live Chatbot Agent places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 289 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #1 2 WP Downgrade | Specific Core Version 100K+ · 4.8★ (169) wp.org #2 3 Index WP MySQL For Speed 50K+ · 4.8★ (99) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Gwolle Guestbook 20K+ · 4.8★ (113) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 SmartyParcel – DHL Express, GLS, InPost & Nova Post for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.6★ (56) wp.org #5 6 3D FlipBook – PDF Embedder, PDF Flipbook Viewer, Flipbook Image Gallery 70K+ · 4.8★ (182) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring 100K+ · 4.7★ (321) wp.org #13 6 too low 8 SupportCandy – AI Customer Support Ticket System & Live Chatbot Agent 10K+ · 4.9★ (289) wp.org #21 13 too low 9 Facilitated Routines 70+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #3 6 too high 10 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #10 11 Advanced Views – Display Framework – Gutenberg/Elementor/Shortcode 2K+ · 4.8★ (36) wp.org #12 1 too low 12 New User Approve 20K+ · 4.3★ (131) wp.org #17 5 too low 13 Password Protected 300K+ · 4.4★ (142) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 Product Enquiry for WooCommerce (Now with AI Assistant) 10K+ · 4.1★ (68) wp.org #16 2 too low 15 Branda – White Label & Branding, Free Login Page Customizer 10K+ · 4.5★ (30) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 Kama Thumbnail 8K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 FrontEdit – Live Frontend Block Editor 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 11 too high 18 Duplicate Page or Post 9K+ · 4.0★ (8) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 YITH PayPal Express Checkout for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #14 5 too high 20 Database Access with Adminer 1K+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #11 9 too high 21 Teydea Password Reset – Force Password Reset & Expiration 500+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #8 13 too high 22 Reset file and folder permissions 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 User Registration Stats 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 Watchdog Security Lite — Powered by Lumiverse Nexus 60+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.