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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “scratch project”

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 “scratch project”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Angie – Agentic AI shows at wp.org #9 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 100K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.3★ average from 20 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Project Manager – AI Powered Project Management, Task Management, Kanban Board & Time Tracker 5K+ · 3.8★ (187) wp.org #1 2 MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1526) wp.org #5 ↑2 2 too low 4 SureForms – Contact Form Builder, AI Forms, Payment Form, Survey & Quiz 500K+ · 4.8★ (102) wp.org #4 5 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #8 ↓3 2 too low 7 LazyTasks – Project & Task Management with Collaboration, Kanban and Gantt Chart 90+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #2 ↑1 5 too high 8 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (199) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 SimpLy Gallery 40K+ · 4.8★ (118) wp.org #10 ↑2 1 too low 10 Twentig Supercharged Block Editor – Blocks, Patterns, Starter Sites, Portfolio 20K+ · 4.9★ (171) wp.org #12 ↓2 2 too low 11 Live Composer – Free WordPress Website Builder 10K+ · 4.4★ (212) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 Xpro Theme Builder For Elementor – FREE 20K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #7 ↑2 5 too high 13 Cost Calculator Builder 20K+ · 4.5★ (393) wp.org #22 ↑1 9 too low 14 Print My Blog – Print, PDF, & eBook Converter WordPress Plugin 8K+ · 4.8★ (115) wp.org #17 ↑1 3 too low 15 Spectra Blocks – AI Website Builder for the Block Editor 60K+ · 4.6★ (53) wp.org #20 ↓5 5 too low 16 Popup Maker – Responsive popup, Exit Intent Pop up, Email Optins, Autoresponder & More 7K+ · 4.5★ (144) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Angie – Agentic AI 100K+ · 3.3★ (20) wp.org #9 ↓1 8 too high 18 WPKoi Templates for Elementor 5K+ · 4.6★ (19) wp.org #19 ↑1 1 too low 19 Layouts for Divi 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #15 ↑1 4 too high 20 Oracle Cards Lite – Interactive Card Deck Plugin for WordPress 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 WPZOOM Forms – Drag & Drop Contact Form Builder for WordPress 10K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 7 too high 22 PixMagix – WordPress Image Editor 200+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 Live Copy Paste for Elementor – Cross Domain Copy Paste & Page Duplicator 6K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #18 ↑1 5 too high 24 Classic Addons – WPBakery Page Builder 3K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↑1 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.