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← Rankings

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

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 “sand”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

Kanoo Payment Gateway shows at wp.org #9 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 1.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Image Wall places #3 on merit, 4.9★ from 54 reviews, but shows at wp.org #7. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Pagination Styler for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Snow Monkey Blocks 30K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Image Wall 100+ · 4.9★ (54) wp.org #7 ↑1 4 too low 4 Colibri Page Builder 80K+ · 4.4★ (80) wp.org #8 ↓2 4 too low 5 NOWPayments for WooCommerce – Crypto Payment Gateway 3K+ · 4.1★ (16) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 Decimal Product Quantity for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.5★ (11) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Location Pack for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 MapSVG – Vector maps, Image maps, Google Maps 1K+ · 4.5★ (31) wp.org #17 9 too low 9 Quran multilanguage Text & Audio 400+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #16 7 too low 10 PriceWise – Measurement Price Calculator for WooCommerce 10+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #10 11 D Design Cart Sand Slider — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 ↑1 5 too high 12 AI Data Generator with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Nano Banana 2, Ollama and LM Studio for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 1 too high 13 D Demi Yard Material Calculator — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 Quantely – Privacy-first WordPress Analytics — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 1 too high 15 TVS Block Newsletter — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 1 too high 16 Aludra — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 MenuVerse – Mobile Bottom Menu & App-Style Navigation Bar 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too low 18 Heralda — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↑1 2 too low 19 PD17 Map — OpenStreetMap Vector Maps — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too low 20 Hunter Dock – Mobile Bottom Navigation — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↑1 2 too low 21 Vemoro SocialFeed — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↑1 2 too low 22 Ananyoo Accessible Forms – Contact Form & Entry Storage 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 Abstract Box — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Kanoo Payment Gateway 10+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #9 15 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.