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

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 “royalties”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Affiliatly shows at wp.org #9 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 300+ 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

Xagio SEO & AEO – AI SEO for Google Rankings & AI Visibility places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 51 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 1M+ · 4.9★ (4755) wp.org #1 2 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #2 3 Goaffpro Affiliate Marketing 4K+ · 4.8★ (44) wp.org #3 4 Gutenberg Essential Blocks – Page Builder for Gutenberg Blocks & Patterns 100K+ · 4.9★ (216) wp.org #8 4 too low 5 Ocean Extra 400K+ · 3.3★ (67) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Dreamstime Stock Photos 200+ · 4.1★ (18) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Xagio SEO & AEO – AI SEO for Google Rankings & AI Visibility 10K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #13 ↑1 6 too low 8 Da Reactions 300+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #14 ↓1 6 too low 9 Siren Affiliates – Affiliate & Partner Program Manager for WooCommerce 10+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #17 ↓2 8 too low 10 P Pixabay Media Downloader 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #4 6 too high 11 WPSmartContracts 100+ · 3.9★ (29) wp.org #23 12 too low 12 AI Builder – Generate pages, blocks, images & translate with AI 500+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #11 1 too high 13 AI Content Creator – Easy ChatGPT powered article generator 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 3 too high 14 PixMagix – WordPress Image Editor 200+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 Image Hub – Free Images from Unsplash, Pixabay, Pexels, Openverse & Giphy 10K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 8 too high 16 Logo or Image Replace by mycore.global 300+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #16 ↑1 17 Digital Content Delivery (incl. DRM) by Flickrocket for WooCommerce 50+ · 2.6★ (10) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 Mypage SEO Content Studio 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Waypoint Royalty Free Image Generator 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↑1 4 too high 20 Affiliatly 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 11 too high 21 AI Story Maker 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 22 Easy Progressive Web App 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 Codesala SEO Content Engine 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 AI Blog Automator 100+ · 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.