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

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 “scalable”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 3 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

Light Views Counter – Fast, Scalable View Counter for High-Traffic Sites shows at wp.org #1 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 3K+ 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

Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App places #9 on merit, 4.7★ from 528 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 WP Event Manager – Events Calendar, Registrations, Sell Tickets with WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.0★ (249) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too low 2 WP Accessibility 60K+ · 4.8★ (68) wp.org #3 ↑6 1 too low 3 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #5 ↑3 2 too low 4 Kirki – Freeform Page Builder, Website Builder & Customizer 400K+ · 4.5★ (81) wp.org #4 5 WP-Members Membership Plugin 50K+ · 4.6★ (272) wp.org #9 ↑8 4 too low 6 Big File Uploads – Increase Maximum File Upload Size 100K+ · 4.9★ (402) wp.org #12 ↓2 6 too low 7 SMTP2GO for WordPress – Email Made Easy 40K+ · 5.0★ (67) wp.org #10 ↑1 3 too low 8 Points Management System For Gamification, Ranks, Badges, and Loyalty Rewards Program – myCred 10K+ · 4.6★ (472) wp.org #13 ↓11 5 too low 9 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #17 ↓4 8 too low 10 WP SVG Images 30K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #7 ↓1 3 too high 11 Safe Redirect Manager 40K+ · 4.7★ (78) wp.org #14 ↑2 3 too low 12 All-in-One Video Gallery – Video Player & Galleries for YouTube, Vimeo & Self-Hosted Videos 20K+ · 4.8★ (136) wp.org #19 ↑1 7 too low 13 WP Database Backup – Unlimited Database & Files Backup by Backup for WP 20K+ · 4.5★ (102) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 Realtyna Organic IDX plugin + WPL Real Estate 1K+ · 4.7★ (203) wp.org #22 ↓1 8 too low 15 Light Views Counter – Fast, Scalable View Counter for High-Traffic Sites 3K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 14 too high 16 Native PHP Sessions 10K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #15 ↓1 1 too high 17 A Action Scheduler 20K+ · 3.5★ (13) wp.org #11 ↑1 6 too high 18 SVG Flags – Country Flag Blocks and Galleries 2K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #6 ↓1 12 too high 19 WP Hotel Booking 7K+ · 3.7★ (67) wp.org #23 ↓1 4 too low 20 WooCommerce Payfast Gateway 30K+ · 3.0★ (7) wp.org #8 ↓1 12 too high 21 Mailster AmazonSES Integration 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 22 URL Image Importer – Import External Images to the Media Library from URL, CSV & XML 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 WooToolkit – A Scalable WooCommerce Addon! 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↓1 7 too high 24 Web Accessibility Toolkit – Accessibility Checker & ARIA for WCAG, Section 508 & ADA Compliance 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓1 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.