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

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

Premmerce Variation Swatches for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #7 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Quill Forms | Conversational Multi Step Forms, Surveys & quizzes 3K+ · 4.8★ (44) wp.org #1 2 WebP Express 300K+ · 4.4★ (162) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Sticky Block for Gutenberg Editor 7K+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Contact Form & SMTP Plugin for WordPress by PirateForms 30K+ · 4.7★ (223) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Compact Archives 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 WP Date and Time Shortcode 10K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 گیت‌لند | درگاه پرداخت هوشمند گیت‌لند 5K+ · 4.7★ (18) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 Sitelinks Search Box 2K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 Customize Feeds for Twitter 4K+ · 4.2★ (18) wp.org #18 9 too low 10 Spotrebiteľské práva pre WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 ClickRank – Ai SEO Automation 1K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Bolt Checkout for WooCommerce 100+ · 3.0★ (10) wp.org #15 3 too low 13 AJ Agent Crawl Optimizer – AI Readiness Scanner & llms.txt for WordPress 30+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 9 too low 14 Alma – Pay in installments or later for WooCommerce 1K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 Premmerce Variation Swatches for WooCommerce 100+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #7 8 too high 16 All-in-One Content Restriction – Conditional Content Visibility & Access Control for WordPress 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 SM Agent Kit 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 WarrantyARK — EU Guarantee Notice 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 Santi Tech Disable Posts & Comments 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 2 too high 20 Image Credits nofollow 100+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #13 7 too high 21 AutoLingo — Automatic Translation for Polylang & WPML 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 KP Agent Ready 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 8 too high 23 Megop SEO – Bulk Editor, Internal Links, Broken Links & Search Console 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓1 24 Solid Dynamics 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1

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.