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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “sample products”

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 “sample products”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Free Product Samples for WooCommerce – Try Before You Buy, Request Samples by Mail shows at wp.org #6 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 60+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) places #9 on merit, 4.7★ from 5231 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 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #1 2 Product Import Export for WooCommerce – CSV Product Importer & Exporter 80K+ · 4.6★ (413) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 WPC Product Bundles for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.4★ (220) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Free Product Sample for WooCommerce 200+ · 3.6★ (34) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 Product Table for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.8★ (295) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Product Table & List Builder for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.9★ (254) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (592) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 Delete All Products for WooCommerce 4K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #3 5 too high 9 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #19 ↓2 10 too low 10 YITH WooCommerce Ajax Product Filter 70K+ · 3.5★ (98) wp.org #8 2 too high 11 Product Generator for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #7 4 too high 12 Index WP MySQL For Speed 50K+ · 4.8★ (99) wp.org #22 10 too low 13 Really Simple CAPTCHA 300K+ · 4.2★ (131) wp.org #20 ↓1 7 too low 14 Content Egg – Affiliate Product Importer & Price Comparison 10K+ · 3.9★ (56) wp.org #15 ↓1 1 too low 15 Product SKU Generator for WooCommerce 8K+ · 4.9★ (20) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 AI Product Tools – Bulk Product Content Generator & AI Toolkit for WooCommerce 500+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 Min Max Step Quantity Limits Manager for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #24 ↓2 7 too low 18 Product Size Charts Plugin for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.3★ (39) wp.org #18 ↑5 19 Sizor Product Size Chart For WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.3★ (32) wp.org #17 ↓2 2 too high 20 Free Product Samples for WooCommerce – Try Before You Buy, Request Samples by Mail 60+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #6 14 too high 21 WPC Product Quantity for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.0★ (15) wp.org #21 ↓3 22 Product Option Kit – Product Options & Addons for WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 8 too high 23 CSV Importer Plus for ACF 400+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #23 ↓3 24 Simple Product Sample 50+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #16 8 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.