Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “second street”

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 “second street”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Second Street shows at wp.org #1 but places #9 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

SureCart – Ecommerce Made Easy For Selling Physical Products, Digital Downloads, Subscriptions, Donations, & Payments places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 289 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Otter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder for Gutenberg Editor & FSE 300K+ · 4.7★ (251) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Address Autocomplete Anything – Google Address Autocomplete for Any Form 900+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #2 3 Property Hive 3K+ · 4.9★ (96) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too low 4 iPanorama 360 – Advanced Virtual Tour Builder 4K+ · 4.5★ (31) wp.org #4 5 Directorist: AI-Powered Business Directory, Listings & Classified Ads 20K+ · 4.6★ (698) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Gallery – Photo Albums Plugin 2K+ · 3.8★ (277) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Maps Widget for Google Maps 20K+ · 4.6★ (512) wp.org #14 ↓2 7 too low 8 Autocomplete Google Address 2K+ · 4.0★ (25) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too high 9 Second Street 400+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #1 8 too high 10 MyParcel 8K+ · 3.9★ (48) wp.org #7 ↓2 3 too high 11 Get Use APIs – JSON Content Importer 5K+ · 4.9★ (78) wp.org #18 ↓3 7 too low 12 SureCart – Ecommerce Made Easy For Selling Physical Products, Digital Downloads, Subscriptions, Donations, & Payments 80K+ · 4.8★ (289) wp.org #22 ↓2 10 too low 13 AF Companion – Starter Sites, Speed Booster & Growth Suite for Professional Publishing 10K+ · 4.9★ (34) wp.org #13 14 CodePeople Post Map for Google Maps 3K+ · 4.2★ (31) wp.org #15 ↓1 1 too low 15 Store Locator for WordPress📍 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #10 5 too high 16 Multibanco, MB WAY, Credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Payshop, and PIX (ifthenpay) for WooCommerce 8K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #17 ↑2 1 too low 17 Basic Google Maps Placemarks 2K+ · 4.4★ (51) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 NIF (Num. de Contribuinte Português) for WooCommerce 5K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 Eventward 400+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #12 ↑5 7 too high 20 TemplateSpare – 1000+ WordPress Starter Templates & Full Site Migration Tool | 1-Click Import/Export & No-Code Builder 10K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #16 4 too high 21 HappyVR – Virtual Tour Builder & 360 Panorama Viewer 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 22 Mintpay for WooCommerce 600+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 WC MyParcel Belgium 600+ · 2.0★ (3) wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too high 24 Photo Sphere Viewer – 360° Virtual Tour, Panorama, 360 Video & AR 3D Viewer 600+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #24 ↓2

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.