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

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 “silver”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 4 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

PilotPress shows at wp.org #10 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 900+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.2★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

PPOM – Product Addons & Custom Fields for WooCommerce places #6 on merit, 4.5★ from 283 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Simple Membership 40K+ · 4.6★ (475) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270) wp.org #4 ↓3 2 too low 3 Gold Price Based on Weight 300+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #2 ↑2 1 too high 4 Loyalty Points Rewards and Referral for WooCommerce – WPLoyalty 3K+ · 5.0★ (310) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Classified Listing – AI-Powered Classified ads & Business Directory 9K+ · 4.8★ (138) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 PPOM – Product Addons & Custom Fields for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.5★ (283) wp.org #11 ↑1 5 too low 7 WCFM Membership – WooCommerce Memberships for Multivendor Marketplace 10K+ · 4.0★ (25) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 ITS Jewellery Price Plugin 20+ · 4.5★ (16) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 Raffle Ticket Generator – Woocommerce 100+ · 4.3★ (9) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 Gold Price Live – Gold & Silver Prices, Charts, Widgets, Melt Value Calculator 200+ · 2.5★ (8) wp.org #3 7 too high 11 MetalpriceAPI 500+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #5 6 too high 12 Precious Metals Product Prices for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #12 ↓1 13 Advanced OSM for Toolset Maps 30+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too low 14 Rs Christmas Santa – Snowfall, Christmas Lights, Holiday Music, Flying Sleigh & Countdown 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 1 too high 15 OXP Breaking News Ticker 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #20 ↓1 5 too low 16 WS Force Login Page 100+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #21 ↓1 5 too low 17 Dynamic Metal Price Calculator 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓1 1 too high 18 Live Gold and Silver Price Sync for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓1 19 Ratio Thumbnails Size 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓1 3 too low 20 Precious Metals Charts and Widgets for WordPress 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓1 5 too high 21 A Aureliquo – Quotazioni Oro e Argento — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1 3 too low 22 Vartable for WooCommerce 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓1 3 too high 23 Hesapis Market Data – Gold, Currency & Crypto Prices — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓1 24 PilotPress 900+ · 2.2★ (5) wp.org #10 14 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.