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

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 “sideload”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Blogger Importer 50K+ · 3.1★ (57) wp.org #3 ↑1 2 too low 2 SiteSkite – Secure MCP & AI WebOps. Connect ChatGPT, Claude, or Any AI Agent via MCP 200+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #4 ↑2 2 too low 3 Kodlo Media Manager 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too high 4 C ContentGecko Connector 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Fluxserp – AI Content Writer & SEO on Autopilot — · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 ↓1 4 too low 6 C Cache Images 1K+ · 4.0★ (6) wp.org #13 ↓3 7 too low 7 Bring Images Home – Copy Remote Images Locally 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too high 8 Cyphex Image Hunter 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 LOOS Featured Image Automator 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↑6 1 too high 10 EXIF Meta Manager 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 SnowSEO 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↓3 1 too high 12 BahriCanli Publisher 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓2 1 too high 13 Pure Demo Importer 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too high 14 MentionFetch 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 15 SproutOS – Create Creative Sites with AI 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓3 16 D DZS AI Featured Image Generator — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓3 17 WDS MCP Content Manager 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↑5 18 Lesending — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 19 MigrateMate – Bulk Content Migration, Import and Export 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 20 Esope Integration — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓5 21 PageMorph Builder Migrator — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓5 22 Rext AI Publisher — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 FoPost — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓6 24 Assured SEO — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓6

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.