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← Rankings

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

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 “ship”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 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

Ship Discounts shows at wp.org #7 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 410 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Advanced Shipment Tracking for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.5★ (355) wp.org #1 2 Redux Framework 900K+ · 4.4★ (273) wp.org #5 3 too low 3 Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.7★ (1071) wp.org #10 ↓1 7 too low 4 Weight Based Shipping for WooCommerce 50K+ · 4.6★ (83) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too low 5 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #11 ↑1 6 too low 6 Ship Estimate for WooCommerce 100+ · 4.9★ (8) wp.org #2 4 too high 7 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #15 ↓4 8 too low 8 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too low 9 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #24 ↓1 15 too low 10 Ship to a Different Address Checked/Unchecked for WooCommerce 500+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #4 6 too high 11 XPS Ship Integration 1K+ · 3.3★ (4) wp.org #3 8 too high 12 No Shipping Message for WooCommerce 3K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #17 5 too low 13 Boxtal – Shipping solution 9K+ · 4.0★ (46) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 Address Book & Multiple Shipping for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 Partial Shipment for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.4★ (9) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 The Courier Guy Shipping for WooCommerce 4K+ · 3.1★ (23) wp.org #16 17 ShipStation for WooCommerce 40K+ · 3.3★ (13) wp.org #14 ↓1 3 too high 18 Shiprocket 10K+ · 2.7★ (20) wp.org #23 ↑1 5 too low 19 WooCommerce Shipping 70K+ · 2.0★ (18) wp.org #8 ↓2 11 too high 20 Ship-Safely – Shipping Protection for WooCommerce 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↑1 7 too high 21 Posti Shipping 1K+ · 3.0★ (4) wp.org #21 22 ShipAny WooCommerce: Ship, Label, Tracking 200+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #12 ↑3 10 too high 23 EnvíaYa: Ship with all carriers (Rating, Booking and Tracking) 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 Ship Discounts 100+ · 2.0★ (1) wp.org #7 ↑1 17 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.