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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “service worker”

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 “service worker”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Akari Worker shows at wp.org #6 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 100+ 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

WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents places #8 on merit, 5.0★ from 195 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 ManageWP Worker 1M+ · 4.6★ (679) wp.org #1 2 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 PWA for WP – Progressive Web Apps Made Simple 10K+ · 4.6★ (230) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Easy Appointments 10K+ · 4.3★ (131) wp.org #2 ↑1 2 too high 5 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #10 ↓1 5 too low 6 Super Progressive Web Apps 40K+ · 4.6★ (225) wp.org #9 ↓1 3 too low 7 Better Font Awesome 60K+ · 4.5★ (88) wp.org #7 8 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (195) wp.org #17 ↓1 9 too low 9 MultiVendorX – WooCommerce Multivendor Marketplace AI Powered Solutions 2K+ · 4.8★ (432) wp.org #15 ↑4 6 too low 10 Push Notification for Post and BuddyPress 200+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #11 ↑1 1 too low 11 Hyper PWA – Bringing Modern Progressive Web App Experiences 400+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #8 ↑2 3 too high 12 PWA 20K+ · 4.3★ (27) wp.org #12 ↓1 13 Offload, AI & Optimize with Cloudflare Images 1K+ · 4.9★ (33) wp.org #23 ↓1 10 too low 14 Management App for WooCommerce – Order notifications, Order management, Lead management, Uptime Monitoring 800+ · 4.0★ (9) wp.org #5 9 too high 15 BotWriter – AI Writer & SEO Content Generator 1K+ · 4.4★ (16) wp.org #19 ↓2 4 too low 16 All Sources Images – Free Images from Pixabay, Unsplash, Openverse, Pexels & Giphy 400+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 Progressify – All-in-One Progressive Web App (PWA) 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 Akari Worker 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 12 too high 19 Multi Location Product & Inventory Management for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #22 ↑1 3 too low 20 PushAI – Self-Hosted Web Push Notifications 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too high 21 J JTZL's In-Browser Cache 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 3 too high 22 PWA – Progressive Web App Builder by WPCodeQuill 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 VerifyPass Community ID 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 EasyPusher – Web Push Notifications 10+ · 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.