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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “sentence case”

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 “sentence case”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 6 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

Custom Add To Cart Button for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #11 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 9K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.9★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

FakerPress places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 205 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 Change Text Case 1K+ · 4.8★ (21) wp.org #1 2 Quiz Maker by AYS 20K+ · 4.9★ (601) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 Orphans 50K+ · 5.0★ (164) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Auto Image Attributes From Filename With Bulk Updater (Add Alt Text, Image Title For Image SEO) 100K+ · 4.8★ (93) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Easy Updates Manager 300K+ · 4.8★ (726) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Formidable Forms – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Payment, Calculator Form & Custom Form Builder 300K+ · 4.8★ (1388) wp.org #10 ↑1 3 too low 8 WPC Frequently Bought Together for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.5★ (84) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Internal Link Juicer: SEO Auto Linker for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (537) wp.org #15 ↑2 6 too low 10 Text Case Converter 300+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #2 8 too high 11 FakerPress 10K+ · 4.9★ (205) wp.org #22 ↑1 11 too low 12 Database Manager – WP Adminer 20K+ · 5.0★ (28) wp.org #8 4 too high 13 AI Popup Builder & Popup Maker by OptiMonk 3K+ · 4.7★ (98) wp.org #12 ↑2 1 too high 14 Copy Anything to Clipboard for WordPress – Copy Button, Copy Text & Copy Code 10K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #13 ↑2 1 too high 15 Link Whisper Free 30K+ · 4.2★ (151) wp.org #19 ↑2 4 too low 16 Highlight Search Terms 6K+ · 5.0★ (40) wp.org #17 ↑3 1 too low 17 Nelio Content – Editorial Calendar & Social Media Auto-Posting 3K+ · 4.4★ (104) wp.org #21 ↑1 4 too low 18 FluentSnippets – High-Performance Code Snippets, Header & Footer Code, Custom CSS & PHP Code Manager 50K+ · 4.7★ (78) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 Media Library Tools – AI-Powered Rename, Clean & CSV Import/Export 2K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #16 ↑2 3 too high 20 Markup by Attribute for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.5★ (28) wp.org #23 ↑1 3 too low 21 Text to Speech – Reinvent WP 40+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22 Custom Add To Cart Button for WooCommerce 9K+ · 3.9★ (8) wp.org #11 ↑1 11 too high 23 Marquee Addons for Elementor – Essential Motion Widgets & Templates 20K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 Universally – AI Translation & Multilingual SEO: Translate Your Site into 110+ Languages 30K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↑2 10 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.