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← Rankings

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

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

G-Live CMS shows at wp.org #15 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 100+ 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

Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection places #5 on merit, 4.6★ from 3992 reviews, but shows at wp.org #9. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) – Quiz Maker & Survey Maker 40K+ · 4.7★ (1282) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #3 4 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #9 ↑1 4 too low 6 ACF Content Analysis for Yoast SEO 100K+ · 4.1★ (35) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Modular DS: Monitor, update, and backup multiple websites 40K+ · 5.0★ (133) wp.org #10 ↑1 3 too low 8 Spam Protection | Maspik 30K+ · 4.7★ (87) wp.org #8 ↓1 9 Smart COD for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.6★ (52) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too high 10 WP-PostRatings 20K+ · 4.4★ (178) wp.org #11 ↑1 1 too low 11 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 404 Solution 10K+ · 4.9★ (44) wp.org #12 ↓3 13 WP Fusion Lite – Marketing Automation and CRM Integration for WordPress 4K+ · 5.0★ (69) wp.org #18 ↑1 5 too low 14 Hosting Benchmark tool 4K+ · 4.7★ (33) wp.org #14 15 WP Courses LMS – Online Courses Builder, eLearning Courses, Courses Solution, Education Courses 500+ · 4.9★ (22) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 Quttera ThreatSign – Web Malware Scanner for WordPress 10K+ · 3.9★ (47) wp.org #16 17 CallPage – Callback Widget 1K+ · 4.6★ (27) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 Customer Email Verification for WooCommerce – OTP Verification, Block Fake Signups 2K+ · 4.2★ (20) wp.org #20 ↑3 2 too low 19 Blacklist Manager – WooCommerce Anti-Fraud, Blacklist & Checkout Verification 2K+ · 3.6★ (14) wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too low 20 Ubersuggest SEO Tools 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 ↑1 3 too high 21 Meow Workflow – AI Agents & No-Code Automation for WordPress 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 G-Live CMS 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 FormRank Lead Scoring — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↑1 4 too high 24 RushVue SEO AI Search Readiness 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.